The Upside Down Kingdom (Matthew 19-20) | Louis Azuma

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I want you to ask you guys a question.

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What is the strangest deep fried

food that you've ever seen?

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The strangest deep fried

food you've ever seen.

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Caleb?

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Probably fried butter.

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Deep fried butter.

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Is that even a food?

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Butter is.

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Butter is my favorite

food group, but Josh.

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Deep fried Oreo.

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Deep fried Oreos.

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Yeah.

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Deep fried cheesecake.

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Deep fried cheesecake.

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These are all dessert.

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Deep fried, any Kool-Aid,

deep fried Kool-Aid.

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I was researching this online.

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I found deep fried watermelon.

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I don't know how that works.

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I dunno how you fry something that's a

fruit, but there's deep fried watermelon.

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They serve it like sushi.

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It looks really weird.

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I couldn't find any clip pictures

that weren't blurry 'cause I

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didn't have Pastor Rod to help

me learn how to use my computer.

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But deep fried watermelon Carson.

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Saw deep fried, deep fried water.

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Wow.

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I saw in my brief foray onto the

internet, I saw deep fried tarantula.

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That was disgusting.

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That was, yeah.

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I was like, why would

you want to eat that?

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But some people say that deep fried food

is, is like, it's, you can't go wrong.

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And if you deep fry it,

it works for everything.

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That's what some people say.

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They say that if you deep fry

it, it makes everything better.

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Right.

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Chicken deep fry it, shrimp, deep

fry, it tarantulas, deep fry it.

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They'll say, if you deep fry

it, it makes everything better.

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And I want you guys to, to hear today,

what I want you guys to, to walk away with

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is realizing that humility is like what

some people think about deep fried food.

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Humility makes everything better.

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Every place you're in, every relationship

you have, every person you talk to,

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conversation, you have everything.

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In your life, humility makes everything

better, and that's because humility is the

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key to how God wants his people to live.

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So our main point tonight is that

self-focused and self-interest, right?

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It's the opposite of humility.

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Self-focused and self-interest

have no place in God's people.

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If you wanna be part of God's people

or if you call yourself a Christian.

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Focusing on yourself and caring about

what you want most is not gonna fly.

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It's not gonna work out very well.

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Self focus and self interest

have no place in God's community.

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So right now we've been looking

at the gospel of Matthew.

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Last week we talked

about the church, right?

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We talked about forgiving people.

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We talked about being.

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Even calling out sin in each other's

lives and how to have those conversations.

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We talked about what Jesus is

saying about how he wants his

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people, Christians to interact.

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He wants them to, to

live together in a group.

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God doesn't save you and then

tell you to live on your own.

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And we're gonna continue

seeing what that is.

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So tonight, uh, some people call

it, we're gonna be looking at the

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upside down kingdom of God, and we're

gonna look at Matthew 19 and 20.

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So why don't you turn there in your

Bibles with me to Matthew chapter 19.

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Matthew Chapter 19, we're gonna be looking

at the first 22 verses of the chapter.

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So this section here,

Matthew 19, one to 22.

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There are three

interactions that Jesus has.

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There's three conversations that happen.

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The first one, the Pharisees

that says they come to test him

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and they ask him about divorce.

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They say, is it, is it lawful for

someone to divorce their wife?

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Is it okay?

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Is God let people do that?

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That's the first question,

the first interaction.

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The second thing that happens is the

little children come to Jesus, and

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you might have heard that somewhere

in kids' ministry on the wall, let

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the little children come to me.

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That's what Jesus says.

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That's the second one.

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The third one is a rich young

man asks what he needs to do

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to get eternal life, and you've

probably heard about that one too.

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He says, Jesus, what must

I do to get eternal life?

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There's three conversations

that Jesus has.

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And Matthew puts all these

conversations together because

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he wants us to compare them.

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There's something that he wants

us to see by putting all of

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these conversations in a row.

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See, the Pharisees and the rich

young man, they are coming and asking

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Jesus questions about God's law.

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The Pharisees say, oh, can

we, if, if we don't like our

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spouse, can we divorce them?

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Can we break up our marriage?

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Just because, uh, is, is that

something that God lets us do?

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Then the rich young man, he's asking

a question, what good deed must I do?

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What laws do I have to keep to

make sure that I get to heaven?

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So they're asking questions about God's

law, and on the surface they might seem

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genuine, but Jesus' conversations with

them reveal something about their hearts.

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He's gonna ask them a question back.

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Jesus loves doing this.

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Someone asks him a question and he's

gonna shoot him a question back.

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I had a small group leader

do that to me all the time.

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It was terrible.

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I'd ask him a question.

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Oh yeah, it was actually, it was

Pastor Evan from Hill Country, pastor

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Evan, what do you think about this?

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Or what do I do?

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He'd be like, what do

you think you should do?

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Like, thanks Pastor Evan.

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That's super helpful.

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But it made me think, and it

actually taught me more about

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myself and my thought process.

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That's what Jesus does.

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He's revealing something about

their hearts, and what we're gonna

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see is that he is showing them that

they're trying to use God's command.

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God's law that they've read about.

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They're trying to use it to make

themselves feel worthy of going to heaven.

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They're trying to look at

God's law and say, okay, if I

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do this, then I'm good enough.

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If I do this, then I must be the kind of

person that God wants to have in heaven.

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I must be worth it.

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I must be someone that God really,

really likes and, and really

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wants to include in heaven.

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So they're trying to use God's commands.

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To make themselves feel worthy.

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So when they read their Bibles,

they hear sermons, they see a

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bunch of rules, and they're like,

I want to check off all the boxes.

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I wanna be the best rule follower.

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So that way I can feel good and I can say,

God, look at, look at my rule following,

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look at my checklist of things I've done.

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And that what that says about

them is that their obedience

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is mainly about them, right?

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It's about, oh, I, I want to obey so

I can look good, so I can feel good.

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Look at my spiritual report card.

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God.

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I must be worthy of saving.

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So they're trying to make

themselves feel good enough or feel

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better, at least in other people.

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Maybe I'm not amazing, but

I'm better than those people.

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Whether you are a Christian or not.

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I think that you today are

in danger of the same thing.

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I think that all of us in this room

are in danger of doing the same

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thing that the rich young man in the

Pharisees are doing in our passage.

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We're in danger of obeying

God, not for him, but for us.

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We're in danger of obeying God

to make ourselves feel good.

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Instead of wanting Jesus and

wanting a relationship with him,

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we want to check off the boxes

to feel good about ourselves.

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So you can see an example of

this right here in Matthew

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19, verses seven and eight.

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The Pharisees, that's they, they said

to Jesus, why then did Moses command?

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One to give a certificate of divorce.

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So this is what, this is what

happens right before this.

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So Jesus is the Jesus

talking to the Pharisees.

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Pharisees are like, Hey,

can we divorce our spouse?

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And Jesus is like God said in Genesis,

he puts a married couple together.

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He does it.

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It's not a contract,

it's not an agreement.

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It's not, uh, well if, if we

both like each other in 20 years,

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we'll keep doing this thing.

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He says that marriage

is something God does.

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And in the Pharisees, they're

like, oh, we got you now.

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Jesus.

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Look, Moses said we could divorce.

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Moses said, and they say, Moses

commanded that we could do it.

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And then Jesus says, he said to them,

because of your hardness of heart,

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it's not that God wanted you to do

this, it's because of you it that Moses

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allowed you to divorce your wives.

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But from the beginning it was not so.

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So they're saying, well,

look, we can do it because.

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It, we, we can still keep God's

law and, and serve ourselves.

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If I don't like my spouse, I can

still, I can still keep the law.

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It's about me, not about God.

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Jesus saying, God would want you

to stay together, but they're

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saying, well, we are finding a

loophole that we want to exploit.

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We, we are really just looking to

keep God's law when it works for us.

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We don't want to do it for God.

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'cause God would want

you to stay together.

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But.

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We don't wanna stay together,

so we're going to keep our hard

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hearts, but still keep the law.

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That's what we're gonna try to do.

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So the Pharisees are

keeping it for themselves.

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The rich young man is similar.

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A man came up to Jesus saying,

teacher, what good deed must

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I do to have eternal life?

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What good things do I need to

do to make sure I get to heaven?

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And Jesus goes over the

commandments with him.

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He talks about honoring

your father and mother.

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He talks about the, basically the

last half of the 10 Commandments.

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It's, and this guy, I, I've

never, I, I don't know him, right?

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I I, I'm not gonna, you know, we're

gonna, I'm not gonna say he wasn't

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amazing at doing the, the six through

10 commandments, but he says, I've done

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all of these things, probably not true.

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Right?

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He probably told a lie.

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He probably probably hated

someone in his heart, right?

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But he says, I've done all these things,

and Jesus, he doesn't question that.

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He says, well.

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Okay.

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If you would be perfect, go sell

everything you own and give it to

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the poor, and you'll have treasure

in heaven, then come follow me.

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So this rich young man is like, look,

Jesus, I've, I've gotten a plus on

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my spiritual report card, but Jesus

says, okay, if you really are the great

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Christian, you say you are, then show

that and sell everything you own because

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it'll be worth it for you in heaven.

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And then when the young man

heard this, he went away sad

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because he had a lot of stuff.

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So what Jesus just did here is he

showed that this young man who does he

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love more God or His stuff, his stuff.

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So Jesus, even though, even though this

young man kept all the commandments,

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or at least said he did, he was

really keeping the commandments

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to feel good about himself.

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He, because he is saying, look, I, I'm

good enough to go to heaven, Jesus.

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And Jesus says, actually,

you're not following me.

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You're just keeping the commitments

to make yourself feel good.

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So our first point

tonight is follow Jesus.

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Not just some rules.

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Follow Jesus, not just some rules.

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You could put it another way.

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You could say, have a

relationship with Jesus.

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Don't check boxes.

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The rich young man, he didn't

really wanna follow Jesus.

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He just wanted to do the right

things, feel good about himself,

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and keep his loyalty separate.

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He, he wanted to put himself

number one, and then follow God

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when it was convenient to him, and

the Pharisees did the same thing.

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You could also say this, follow

the rules for God, not for you.

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And that's because following Jesus

isn't just keeping rules, right?

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There are commandments to obey

as a Christian, but following

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Jesus is primarily a relationship.

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It's Jesus is the Lord and

and you're the servant.

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Jesus is.

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The teacher and you are the student.

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Jesus is the friend and you are

loving him and following him.

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It's a relationship.

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Imagine.

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Imagine with me, some of you might

have to imagine really hard, okay?

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But imagine you're dating someone, okay?

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Imagine, I know some of you, you do this

all day, so you're like, I got boom.

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I know exactly who, but some of you, this

might take a little work, but imagine,

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imagine you're dating someone, okay?

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Imagine if you were just like, I, I, I'm

in a relationship with this person, but

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really I'm just trying to do things for

them, do nice things for them, right?

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I open the door for them, I

text them encouraging messages.

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I tell 'em they look great today.

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I ask them how their day is going.

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I do all these things, but really

my goal is just to be a great

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boyfriend or a great girlfriend.

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And imagine I did this with my

beautiful wife if I was like doing

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all these great things for her, but

it was really just so I could be like,

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I just wanna be the best husband.

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I'm just doing this to be, to

get the husband of the year

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award if that even exists.

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Right.

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Does that say anything

about my affection for her?

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Right ladies, that would stink.

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You wouldn't want a man like that.

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Or if guys, if you realize that this

girl who's being really nice to you

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and, and talking to you and asking you

good questions and hanging out with

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you, if she was just like, actually,

I'm really just doing this to prove that

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I'm a, I'm a great person to be with.

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I'm just, I'm just working on, on my,

my girlfriend skills that would stink.

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Right.

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Yeah, there's loving things

that you can do, right?

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Good things to do.

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But you can do them for yourself.

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You can do them to make yourself feel good

like, oh man, I'm such a great boyfriend.

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I bought her flowers today.

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Look at me.

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And that sounds silly, but that's what

we do with God so much when we make

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following Jesus just about following

the rules and checking the boxes.

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Oh, look, I'm such a great Christian.

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I.

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Open the Bible app 900 days in a row,

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or, oh, look at me.

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I'm such a great Christian.

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I serve in VBS every year.

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Or look at, I'm such a great Christian.

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I talk to my leader and ask them

questions, ask 'em how they're doing,

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or I obey my parents really well,

or I make sure I, I say this prayer

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specifically when I go to sleep.

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And we can do that to

make ourselves feel good.

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And see, that's what the Pharisees

and the rich young men are doing.

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They're turning good acts of

love into a checklist to make

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themselves feel righteous.

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And I'm afraid that you

are doing the same thing.

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Even as a Christian, you

can do the same thing.

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You can follow, follow the rules that

God gives you, just to make yourself feel

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good just to say, oh, well, I must be a

Christian now because I stopped saying

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those words, or I stopped making those

jokes, so now I must be a Christian.

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That's about you.

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It's not about God.

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It's not, oh, I love God, so I

want to honor him with my words.

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It's no, I want to feel good, or

I wanna prove that I'm better than

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those people, or I want my leader to

stop asking me about my testimony.

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So it's kind of like those people

that, you know, they go to the gym and

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all they do at the gym is just stand

in front of the mirror, you know?

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And, and do all the cool

stuff, all that stuff, right?

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I had a roommate in college like that.

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It was hilarious.

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Um, half his time at the gym was

him just staring at himself, right?

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Don't be that kind of Christian.

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Don't be a Jim Mirror Christian.

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Don't be like, oh, look at the stuff I do.

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Look how great I am.

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Don't be that person.

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Don't be that guy.

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Don't be that girl.

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Don't follow God for yourself.

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Their rule following in this passage

that we're seeing, and maybe yours

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is a pursuit of their own interest.

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And Matthew wants us to compare their

rule following with that of the children.

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That's why he puts the

children right in the middle.

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If you remember last week we

talked about children as well.

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So in Matthew 1915, Jesus says, let little

children come to me and don't hinder them.

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Four, why this kind of person,

childlike person is the person

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that gets the kingdom of heaven.

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: 00:15:31

And he said that earlier.

319

: 00:15:32

Whoever humbles himself.

320

: 00:15:33

Like this child is the greatest

in the kingdom of heaven.

321

: 00:15:37

So see, it's kind of upside down, right?

322

: 00:15:39

He's saying the most vulnerable, the most

helpless, the most dependent people are

323

: 00:15:44

the people that get the kingdom of heaven.

324

: 00:15:47

Those people understand how this works.

325

: 00:15:53

Jesus is saying that his commands

aren't, something, aren't like

326

: 00:15:55

a podium for you to climb up to

the top of so you can feel great.

327

: 00:15:58

He wants you to admit your

weakness and your need for him.

328

: 00:16:01

And to follow him because you want

him, not because you want yourself.

329

: 00:16:06

Following Jesus to get stuff for

yourself is not gonna do you any good.

330

: 00:16:11

You're just gonna be a, a, a moral person

who ends up forever apart from God.

331

: 00:16:20

So if you think just being a

Christian is, is living a certain

332

: 00:16:22

way and doing the right things, I,

I wanna invite you to, to just throw

333

: 00:16:26

that idea away and, and meet Jesus.

334

: 00:16:29

Jesus is a person.

335

: 00:16:30

He's a person for you to love.

336

: 00:16:32

He's a person for you to talk

to, to hear from, to live

337

: 00:16:37

with, to follow, to live for.

338

: 00:16:41

So take your spiritual resume

building and, and just drop it.

339

: 00:16:47

That's exhausting too, to try to put up

this front of, oh, I gotta be good enough.

340

: 00:16:51

I gotta feel good about

my, my spiritual checklist.

341

: 00:16:58

Maybe you think a relationship with God

is just doing some Christian things and

342

: 00:17:02

so you're like, oh, I'm a Christian.

343

: 00:17:03

'cause I, I go to church.

344

: 00:17:04

My parents are Christian.

345

: 00:17:05

We do family devotions.

346

: 00:17:06

I must be a Christian just because

you're around Christian, just 'cause

347

: 00:17:09

you do Christian things doesn't make

you a Christian because what makes you a

348

: 00:17:12

Christian is a relationship with Jesus.

349

: 00:17:15

So follow Jesus.

350

: 00:17:17

Not the rules.

351

: 00:17:18

You can't be a Christian by osmosis.

352

: 00:17:20

You guys know what osmosis is.

353

: 00:17:21

You learn about mitochondria

is the powerhouse of the cells.

354

: 00:17:24

You learn anything about this.

355

: 00:17:25

So osmosis is when you're next

to, you're next to the, the cells

356

: 00:17:28

are next to each other and that's

how they, they transfer things.

357

: 00:17:31

I haven't taken biology in a long time.

358

: 00:17:33

That's the general idea that you

can't do that as a Christian, right?

359

: 00:17:38

You, you can't become a Christian just

because you're around Christian people.

360

: 00:17:42

You have to have a

relationship with Jesus.

361

: 00:17:46

So if your confidence in your salvation

is from all the stuff you've done,

362

: 00:17:50

then you're trusting the wrong

thing or trusting something that

363

: 00:17:54

ultimately will leave you empty.

364

: 00:17:57

So the reason a lot of people, even

Christians, can make obeying God

365

: 00:18:02

about themselves is because all of

us are wired to want to earn things.

366

: 00:18:06

We all want to to earn something.

367

: 00:18:09

We all want to feel

like, oh, I deserve that.

368

: 00:18:11

I got that.

369

: 00:18:12

That was from me to me.

370

: 00:18:14

I, I did it.

371

: 00:18:16

I did a little search about ad campaigns

that tell you you deserve something.

372

: 00:18:22

And this is page five of this

many ads that I just, this is like

373

: 00:18:28

a website that just tracks ads.

374

: 00:18:29

So this is what, 1, 2, 3,

4 rows of 6 24 times five.

375

: 00:18:37

That's almost a hundred.

376

: 00:18:40

And that was just like

two seconds of Googling.

377

: 00:18:43

So that's like a hundred ads that say,

you deserve this, you deserve this.

378

: 00:18:47

That's 'cause our culture knows that

you're wired to want to deserve things.

379

: 00:18:52

See, we want to feel like we deserve

everything we've got, and so we

380

: 00:18:56

get frustrated when life doesn't

go the way we think we deserve.

381

: 00:19:02

We get frustrated because we want

the world to operate the way.

382

: 00:19:06

We want it to.

383

: 00:19:07

We want the world to, to meet

our standards of what's fair.

384

: 00:19:10

You ever hear that, right?

385

: 00:19:12

You probably grew up saying it.

386

: 00:19:13

That's not fair, right?

387

: 00:19:14

That's not fair.

388

: 00:19:15

Someone else gets something good.

389

: 00:19:16

That's not fair.

390

: 00:19:17

Something bad happens to you.

391

: 00:19:18

That's not fair.

392

: 00:19:20

You hear that all the time.

393

: 00:19:21

And the problem is that our

standard of fairness is broken.

394

: 00:19:27

It's messed up.

395

: 00:19:28

What we think is fair isn't always right.

396

: 00:19:30

And that's what we're gonna go

next in this next chunk of Matthew.

397

: 00:19:32

Matthew 1923 to chapter 20 verse.

398

: 00:19:35

16, we're gonna talk about fairness.

399

: 00:19:38

Now, maybe you don't believe me that

your standard of fairness is broken.

400

: 00:19:44

Well, let me prove it to you that

your standard of fairness is broken.

401

: 00:19:50

Okay?

402

: 00:19:50

I wanna tell you a story.

403

: 00:19:51

Alright?

404

: 00:19:53

So let's say there is a, there's, there's

this boss, this manager, and he was

405

: 00:19:58

like, okay, I need to, to get stuff done.

406

: 00:20:03

So I'm gonna hire people.

407

: 00:20:05

Okay, I'm gonna hire all of these

people to, to get my work done.

408

: 00:20:09

Okay.

409

: 00:20:09

And so he's like, he talks to the, the,

the workers and he's like, all right

410

: 00:20:12

guys, I'll, I'll pay you a, a good wage,

a day's wage if you come work for me.

411

: 00:20:19

So then they go out and they do the work

and then he, the, a couple hours later,

412

: 00:20:25

the, the manager, he sees some other guys

just standing around outside and he's

413

: 00:20:29

like, Hey, you guys wanna work for me too?

414

: 00:20:31

I'll pay you a day's wage.

415

: 00:20:33

I'll pay you a full day's wage if you

start now at: 10:00

416

: 00:20:38

AM and they're like, oh, awesome.

417

: 00:20:40

That's a great deal.

418

: 00:20:41

I'm getting paid eight

hours for six hours of work.

419

: 00:20:44

That's pretty great.

420

: 00:20:46

So then they keep working and

then he sees some other people.

421

: 00:20:48

A couple hours later it's like, let's say

it's like noon and the manager is like,

422

: 00:20:52

Hey, I want you guys to come work for me.

423

: 00:20:56

I'll pay you for eight hours of work,

but you only have to work four hours.

424

: 00:20:59

I'll pay you the full day, but

you only have to work half of it.

425

: 00:21:01

It.

426

: 00:21:02

They're like, oh, awesome.

427

: 00:21:03

Great deal.

428

: 00:21:03

Okay.

429

: 00:21:04

So then they work and they keep

wearing a couple hours later.

430

: 00:21:06

There's only one hour left in the day.

431

: 00:21:08

It's like 4:00 PM and there's still

some more people just standing out

432

: 00:21:11

on the street and the manager's like,

Hey, can you guys come work for me?

433

: 00:21:14

I'll pay you for eight hours

of work if you work one hour.

434

: 00:21:20

So then after, when they all come to

get their pay right, then when they

435

: 00:21:24

come to clock out and get their,

their, their paycheck for the day.

436

: 00:21:27

What do you think the people that

worked all day are gonna say?

437

: 00:21:30

If that was you, let's say you worked all

day, you worked eight hours, you get paid

438

: 00:21:34

for eight hours of work, and then you see,

oh, my friend, he only worked one hour.

439

: 00:21:39

He's getting paid the same amount of money

as me, and he works seven hours less.

440

: 00:21:45

Is that fair or not fair?

441

: 00:21:46

Raise your hand if you think that's fair.

442

: 00:21:48

Region think it's unfair.

443

: 00:21:52

Every single person in the

room thinks it's unfair Now.

444

: 00:21:58

That's because we're all selfish.

445

: 00:22:04

Because if you were the person who worked

one hour, you would be pretty, pretty

446

: 00:22:09

happy with how that turned out, right?

447

: 00:22:11

You'd be like, I worked, guess what?

448

: 00:22:13

I worked one hour and I

got paid for eight hours.

449

: 00:22:17

Right?

450

: 00:22:17

Or I only sat in class for two weeks

and I got credit for the whole year.

451

: 00:22:22

That, that would be pretty great.

452

: 00:22:23

I only did three assignments.

453

: 00:22:24

I got credit for all the

work for the whole semester.

454

: 00:22:28

Wouldn't that be awesome?

455

: 00:22:29

You'd be so excited about that.

456

: 00:22:31

But then when, if it was your classmate,

oh, he only did three weeks of work and

457

: 00:22:33

he got credit for the whole, he got an

A in the class, same grade I got, and

458

: 00:22:37

he only did three weeks of homework.

459

: 00:22:39

There'd be, there'd be trouble there.

460

: 00:22:40

Right.

461

: 00:22:41

That's actually the story that

Jesus tells in Matthew 20.

462

: 00:22:45

He tells the exact same story

that I just told you and.

463

: 00:22:49

The workers in the story react

the same way Jesus replied.

464

: 00:22:52

So the the Jesus is talking to,

he's telling this story and the

465

: 00:22:55

master is talking to the workers.

466

: 00:22:56

The workers are like, Hey, we worked

all day, we worked eight hours.

467

: 00:23:00

Or if you wanna do this in school, right?

468

: 00:23:01

We, we did all the homework

for the whole semester.

469

: 00:23:05

And you're saying that these people

that walked in with the one month

470

: 00:23:08

left of school got the same amount

of credit we did for way less work.

471

: 00:23:14

Look at what the master

in this story says.

472

: 00:23:16

He says, friend, I'm not doing you

any wrong because you agreed to

473

: 00:23:23

work and that word denarius, that's

a day's wage you worked for for

474

: 00:23:27

you got paid for what you worked.

475

: 00:23:29

You, you agreed, I'm gonna

work for a day's wage.

476

: 00:23:32

And you got paid a day's wage.

477

: 00:23:33

That's fair.

478

: 00:23:35

You signed up for to work this

much and you got this much pay.

479

: 00:23:40

That's perfectly fair.

480

: 00:23:41

I.

481

: 00:23:43

But then he says, I choose

to give this last worker the

482

: 00:23:47

guy who only worked one hour.

483

: 00:23:49

I just wanna give him

as much as I give you.

484

: 00:23:52

Not because he earned it,

but because I'm generous.

485

: 00:23:57

That's what the master says.

486

: 00:23:59

That's what the manager says.

487

: 00:24:00

He says, am I not allowed to do

what I want with what's mine?

488

: 00:24:05

It's my money if I wanna overpay

this guy because I'm generous.

489

: 00:24:10

It's my money.

490

: 00:24:11

Why are you mad about that?

491

: 00:24:13

You got what, what you deserve.

492

: 00:24:15

You got what you agreed to work for.

493

: 00:24:20

So that phrase right there, or

do you begrudge my generosity?

494

: 00:24:22

You probably didn't say, oh, do you

begrudge my, you probably didn't

495

: 00:24:28

use that word this week, right?

496

: 00:24:29

Begrudge.

497

: 00:24:30

So sometimes it's helpful to

look in a different translation.

498

: 00:24:34

Or if you know Greek, that's

also helpful, but is this so?

499

: 00:24:37

But literally in Greek it

says, is your eye evil?

500

: 00:24:40

Because I am good.

501

: 00:24:44

And the way other translations

put that is, are you jealous?

502

: 00:24:48

Because I'm generous.

503

: 00:24:50

That's what the master's saying.

504

: 00:24:51

He's saying I was generous

to this other worker.

505

: 00:24:54

Why are you upset about that?

506

: 00:24:58

And what the master is showing is that

the worker's upset and we're, we get

507

: 00:25:01

upset about that 'cause we're selfish.

508

: 00:25:03

Because we're saying,

I want what they got.

509

: 00:25:06

I want you to be generous to me too.

510

: 00:25:08

That's not fair.

511

: 00:25:09

You can't be generous to only that person.

512

: 00:25:14

And we get upset about things like

that and it exposes our selfishness.

513

: 00:25:19

See, when you see God being generous

to someone else, when you see

514

: 00:25:22

God being good to someone else.

515

: 00:25:24

When their life's better than yours,

when their friends are better than

516

: 00:25:27

yours, when their family is more well

off than yours, when their school or

517

: 00:25:31

their grades, or their talent or their

looks, you feel like they're better

518

: 00:25:34

than yours instead of rejoicing that

God has been generous to that person.

519

: 00:25:40

You expose your selfishness when

you say, why can't I get that too?

520

: 00:25:47

You're saying, God, I deserve that.

521

: 00:25:53

I deserve for you to

be generous to me too.

522

: 00:25:56

And that's because we're selfish

and that's so hard to swallow and

523

: 00:26:00

that's why Jesus tells this story.

524

: 00:26:03

So our second point tonight is

reorient your view of God's grace.

525

: 00:26:08

And this is gonna take a lot

of work, reorient, right?

526

: 00:26:11

Change the way you

think about God's grace.

527

: 00:26:14

Or we could say it this way.

528

: 00:26:15

Stop seeing God's grace

with your selfish eyes.

529

: 00:26:20

That's what the master said, right?

530

: 00:26:22

Are you jealous because I'm generous.

531

: 00:26:30

God's generous Grace

messes with us, right?

532

: 00:26:35

I think we're all kind of uncomfortable

when we hear that story and we're like,

533

: 00:26:38

wait, Jesus told that story, and Jesus

said that what that master did was

534

: 00:26:43

okay to pay that one person way more

than what they, what they deserved.

535

: 00:26:52

And when Jesus, or when God gives

people something we don't think

536

: 00:26:56

they deserved, it bothers us.

537

: 00:26:58

And that's because our selfish

hearts, they see something

538

: 00:27:02

good happen to someone else.

539

: 00:27:05

And our first thought, because

we're selfish, is why not me?

540

: 00:27:13

We want, we're jealous.

541

: 00:27:14

We want more than than we deserve.

542

: 00:27:16

We want that for us.

543

: 00:27:19

Instead of our first thought

being, man, God is so generous.

544

: 00:27:22

He gave that person that

family or those looks.

545

: 00:27:26

We say, why not me?

546

: 00:27:28

God, I deserve that.

547

: 00:27:32

You see how selfish that is.

548

: 00:27:34

Imagine if every time you got

something good, someone came up

549

: 00:27:37

to me and someone came up to you

and said, why didn't I get that?

550

: 00:27:43

Or every time it was your birthday,

someone came up to you and said.

551

: 00:27:47

You didn't do that for my birthday.

552

: 00:27:51

That would be terrible.

553

: 00:27:52

That would be, that would be so annoying.

554

: 00:27:54

And that would be, you would be like,

what are you, you're, you're so selfish.

555

: 00:27:58

That's what we do when we say,

God, why didn't you give me that?

556

: 00:28:02

We're saying, God, you're being

generous to them, but I demand

557

: 00:28:06

that you be just as generous to me.

558

: 00:28:09

But guess whose stuff it is?

559

: 00:28:12

Guess whose money?

560

: 00:28:13

Everything is, guess whose world this is?

561

: 00:28:16

Guess whose talents it?

562

: 00:28:18

It's all god's.

563

: 00:28:20

It all belongs to God.

564

: 00:28:22

So who are, who am I to say, God,

why did you let them be born to those

565

: 00:28:26

parents and me be born to these parents?

566

: 00:28:29

If God wants to bless them, that's,

that's perfectly right for God to do.

567

: 00:28:35

'cause it's his stuff.

568

: 00:28:39

God can do whatever he

wants with his stuff.

569

: 00:28:44

We feel like we have a

claim on what God can do.

570

: 00:28:49

We think we deserve to have a

say in how God does what he does.

571

: 00:28:55

But God can be generous however he

wants 'cause it's his stuff, right?

572

: 00:28:59

That manager, it's his money.

573

: 00:29:00

He can pay people however much he wants,

as long as they all agreed to it, right?

574

: 00:29:04

They all said, yeah, it sounds good.

575

: 00:29:05

Good deal.

576

: 00:29:05

I'll work for you.

577

: 00:29:07

And he said, okay, I'll just

be generous to this person.

578

: 00:29:13

It's God's money and he can

give it whoever he wants.

579

: 00:29:15

It's God can do whatever he wants

because he's, he's a just God.

580

: 00:29:21

He's not gonna do anything

that's wrong, right?

581

: 00:29:25

He's not gonna pay someone

less than they deserve.

582

: 00:29:29

Because think about it this way.

583

: 00:29:30

What do we all deserve anyway?

584

: 00:29:35

We all deserve to be punished for our sin.

585

: 00:29:38

And so we're all getting overpaid.

586

: 00:29:41

You realize that, right?

587

: 00:29:43

We're all getting overpaid because

we lived longer than two seconds.

588

: 00:29:51

We're all getting way more money

than we deserve from God because he's

589

: 00:29:55

letting us live beyond our first sin.

590

: 00:30:01

So we need to reorient and change

the way we think about God's grace.

591

: 00:30:05

We.

592

: 00:30:06

He can't deserve it.

593

: 00:30:08

It's God's grace.

594

: 00:30:09

It's his generosity.

595

: 00:30:10

He can do whatever he wants with it.

596

: 00:30:15

But see, sometimes we also

want to make sure that we feel

597

: 00:30:19

like we get what we deserve.

598

: 00:30:20

We feel like we deserve something.

599

: 00:30:21

And so we're like, I want to get that.

600

: 00:30:24

And right before Jesus tells this

parable in chapter 20, after talking

601

: 00:30:29

to the rich young man, he has a

conversation with Peter and the disciples.

602

: 00:30:33

So what happens at the end of chapter

19, right before this parable?

603

: 00:30:36

As Jesus says, after talking with

a rich young man, you might have

604

: 00:30:39

heard this, it's easier for a camel

to go through the eye of the needle

605

: 00:30:44

than for a rich man to go to heaven.

606

: 00:30:46

It's easier for giant animal to

go through tiny opening than for

607

: 00:30:51

a rich person to go to heaven.

608

: 00:30:54

And the disciples are shocked

because in this culture, rich

609

: 00:30:56

people were blessed by God.

610

: 00:30:58

If you were wealthy, a lot of

people would assume that, oh, that's

611

: 00:31:02

'cause God was generous to you.

612

: 00:31:04

God was kind to you.

613

: 00:31:06

And they're like, man, if those people,

the people that God is generous to,

614

: 00:31:10

can't go to heaven, what about us?

615

: 00:31:13

And so Peter, he says,

616

: 00:31:18

what about us?

617

: 00:31:19

See, we've left everything

in, followed you.

618

: 00:31:24

What then will we have,

or what's in it for us?

619

: 00:31:27

Jesus, look, look at all the

stuff we've done for you.

620

: 00:31:29

Jesus.

621

: 00:31:30

Are we gonna get something?

622

: 00:31:33

We deserve it.

623

: 00:31:34

Look what we've done for you.

624

: 00:31:35

We've left everything.

625

: 00:31:36

We actually did what you asked

the rich young man to do.

626

: 00:31:38

You said, go sell everything

and come follow me.

627

: 00:31:41

Peter's like I did that.

628

: 00:31:44

He's saying, Jesus, look

at what I've done for you.

629

: 00:31:49

That's, that's right there, what he says.

630

: 00:31:51

And then here's what

Jesus says in response.

631

: 00:31:53

He says, everyone who has left houses or

brothers or sisters, or father or mother,

632

: 00:31:57

or children, or lands for my namesake.

633

: 00:32:00

We'll receive a hundred fold

and will inherit eternal life.

634

: 00:32:05

So he's saying what's in it for you?

635

: 00:32:07

It'll be worth it.

636

: 00:32:10

It'll be worth it.

637

: 00:32:11

But when you think about it,

Jesus is still overpaying Peter.

638

: 00:32:16

Right?

639

: 00:32:17

This is way more than Peter

deserves for following Jesus.

640

: 00:32:23

But that's the problem is when we think of

God's grace, we think, oh, well, God does.

641

: 00:32:26

God should show me grace.

642

: 00:32:29

Now, what's wrong with that sentence?

643

: 00:32:32

Should anyone ever show someone grace?

644

: 00:32:35

Is Grace ever deserved?

645

: 00:32:38

If it is deserved, is it still grace?

646

: 00:32:42

No.

647

: 00:32:42

Right?

648

: 00:32:45

Grace by definition is undeserved favor.

649

: 00:32:47

You can't earn it.

650

: 00:32:50

So when you think about God's grace,

when you think about, oh man, I'm,

651

: 00:32:53

I maybe we talked about in the

first point is you're thinking.

652

: 00:32:57

I know I can't earn my salvation, but

I, I still think God should save me.

653

: 00:33:07

Maybe you never said it that way,

but maybe that's how you think.

654

: 00:33:09

Maybe you're like, you know, it

makes sense that God would save me.

655

: 00:33:14

Maybe you've never thought

that, but then I know that you

656

: 00:33:18

might've thought that because

657

: 00:33:22

when God saves someone, you

don't think he should save.

658

: 00:33:26

Oh God, you're gonna save that person.

659

: 00:33:29

Wait, that person's

coming to our church now.

660

: 00:33:32

You want me to forgive that person?

661

: 00:33:34

God, I'm supposed to overlook that person.

662

: 00:33:37

Sin.

663

: 00:33:41

You are saying, I deserve God's

forgiveness more than that person.

664

: 00:33:45

I deserve God's grace more than that

person that I don't want to forgive that.

665

: 00:33:48

I don't want you to save God.

666

: 00:33:53

So you're trying to lay claim on God's

grace and saying, well, I'm at least more

667

: 00:33:56

deserving of God's grace than that person.

668

: 00:34:00

See how selfish we are?

669

: 00:34:02

We try to, to do everything we can

to deserve God's grace, but we can't.

670

: 00:34:08

You can't deserve God's grace.

671

: 00:34:14

So maybe deep down you think, oh, it makes

sense that God would save me, or maybe.

672

: 00:34:18

You aren't a Christian.

673

: 00:34:19

Maybe we flip this.

674

: 00:34:21

Maybe you aren't a Christian and you think

the gospel sounds too good to be true.

675

: 00:34:24

You mean God will just

forgive me of everything.

676

: 00:34:26

I don't have to do anything, and

you haven't become a Christian

677

: 00:34:30

because to you that seems too easy.

678

: 00:34:33

You think, oh, well, if you gave me

something to do, God, I would do that,

679

: 00:34:37

and then I, I could become a Christian,

680

: 00:34:41

and that might come from

you wanting to deserve it.

681

: 00:34:45

It's too easy.

682

: 00:34:47

It, it seems too easy.

683

: 00:34:49

That's it because your, your brain

is trained to want to deserve things.

684

: 00:34:54

You want to feel like, oh, I did this

and I got this and I earned this.

685

: 00:34:59

And so maybe that's holding you back

from becoming a Christian 'cause

686

: 00:35:01

you feel like I want to deserve it.

687

: 00:35:04

Or maybe you just feel like I don't

deserve it and I can't become a Christian.

688

: 00:35:07

And what I have to say to you is amazing

news and that God's grace is his to give.

689

: 00:35:16

God can decide to save

whoever he wants to save.

690

: 00:35:19

And so you think, oh,

God couldn't save me.

691

: 00:35:21

You don't know what I've done, Lewis.

692

: 00:35:23

You don't know what I've thought about.

693

: 00:35:24

You don't know what I've watched.

694

: 00:35:25

You don't know what I've said.

695

: 00:35:27

God does and he can still save you

because it's his decision to save you.

696

: 00:35:32

It's not your decision to

determine whether you're

697

: 00:35:34

worthy of being saved or not.

698

: 00:35:39

And maybe you are a Christian and

you don't wanna share the gospel

699

: 00:35:41

with someone because you don't

think they deserve to be saved.

700

: 00:35:47

That's not your call to make

701

: 00:35:51

because you're making a judgment call.

702

: 00:35:53

That person doesn't deserve God's grace,

so I'm gonna hold it back from them.

703

: 00:35:57

So we gonna reorient our view of

God's grace because it's his grace

704

: 00:36:03

to give Last night or last week in

small groups, there was a really

705

: 00:36:07

funny moment where I felt like this.

706

: 00:36:10

I felt like this kid in

small groups last week.

707

: 00:36:13

And the reason is because my

wife made me an amazing dinner.

708

: 00:36:15

It smelled awesome.

709

: 00:36:17

And I started to eat it during small

groups and all of the junior high boys

710

: 00:36:20

came up to me and were like, can I have

some, can I have some, can I have some?

711

: 00:36:23

That smells so good.

712

: 00:36:24

Can I have, I was literally this

kid, I was like, this is why you

713

: 00:36:28

don't bring bread to the lake, right?

714

: 00:36:29

Because all the geese come up

to you and they're like trying

715

: 00:36:32

to eat you and your lunch.

716

: 00:36:33

So definitely not me.

717

: 00:36:35

Yeah, it's definitely not,

definitely not Carsten and, and

718

: 00:36:38

Caleb and Josh, definitely not them.

719

: 00:36:41

Um.

720

: 00:36:44

That's how I felt.

721

: 00:36:45

That was information.

722

: 00:36:47

Actually, this is probably

more like how I felt, but um,

723

: 00:36:54

I decided not to give my

dinner to any of them.

724

: 00:36:59

But if I had only given my dinner to

one of them, let's say only gave it to

725

: 00:37:05

Caleb, let's say, only gave it to Caleb.

726

: 00:37:11

A lot of people in in that room

would've said, that's unfair,

727

: 00:37:13

Louis, but whose dinner was it?

728

: 00:37:17

Mine?

729

: 00:37:18

So who gets to decide what to do with it?

730

: 00:37:20

Me, right.

731

: 00:37:23

So I can do whatever I

want with my food, right?

732

: 00:37:26

That's how God's grace works.

733

: 00:37:28

He can do whatever he wants with it.

734

: 00:37:30

It's not our job to decide

who gets it and who doesn't.

735

: 00:37:33

So reorient your picture,

your view of God's grace.

736

: 00:37:36

Now, to wrap it up here, our

third point, we're gonna be

737

: 00:37:38

looking at Matthew 20 17 34.

738

: 00:37:40

The rest of this chapter, and the key

to all of this, what we're talking

739

: 00:37:44

about is our focus, because our two

main temptations are to trick ourselves

740

: 00:37:50

into thinking we deserve God's grace

or to get upset when other people gr

741

: 00:37:54

grace that we don't think they deserve.

742

: 00:37:57

We need to figure out what we're,

what we're really focused on.

743

: 00:38:01

And so looking for what I

deserve and what benefits me.

744

: 00:38:05

If that's our focus, what

can I get out of this?

745

: 00:38:07

Right?

746

: 00:38:07

Peter's question, what about us?

747

: 00:38:10

That's the opposite of

how Jesus' kingdom works.

748

: 00:38:14

Look what Jesus says here.

749

: 00:38:17

So right before this, Jesus

says, I'm gonna suffer and die.

750

: 00:38:21

I'm gonna be crucified, I'm gonna

be beaten, and I'm gonna die.

751

: 00:38:24

And then he says the rulers of the,

the people who don't worship God, the

752

: 00:38:29

Gentiles, their rulers have authority

and they love their authority.

753

: 00:38:34

They hold it over people.

754

: 00:38:36

They're like, oh, we're, we're

gonna make you do what we want.

755

: 00:38:39

You know, it's kind of like when

you play Follow the Leader with

756

: 00:38:41

like a 4-year-old, they're like,

yes, I can tell people what to do.

757

: 00:38:43

This is awesome.

758

: 00:38:45

Right?

759

: 00:38:45

That's what the world does with authority.

760

: 00:38:48

But Jesus says, that's not

how you guys, Christians live.

761

: 00:38:53

Whoever would be great important

among you must be your servant and

762

: 00:38:59

whoever would be first, the the, the

best among you must be your slave.

763

: 00:39:05

Even as the son of man came not to

be served, but to serve Jesus, the

764

: 00:39:09

son of man, the reigning king, God

of the universe came not to get,

765

: 00:39:15

but to give and give his life as

a ransom for many, many sinners.

766

: 00:39:22

Many people who hated him, who turned

from him, who abandoned him, who made fun

767

: 00:39:26

of him, who mocked him, who killed him.

768

: 00:39:27

He gave his life for those people.

769

: 00:39:30

Jesus says, real greatness is giving

yourself for the good of others.

770

: 00:39:35

And that's our third point.

771

: 00:39:35

Embrace humility as true greatness.

772

: 00:39:39

Embrace humility as true greatness.

773

: 00:39:45

So I wanna ask you is what

type of people do you admire?

774

: 00:39:49

Who do you think is great?

775

: 00:39:51

It's not like, oh, you're so

great, but great, like important.

776

: 00:39:55

Awesome, cool.

777

: 00:39:57

What type of people do you celebrate?

778

: 00:39:59

What type of people are the people?

779

: 00:40:00

You're like, I want to

be like that person.

780

: 00:40:02

I admire that person.

781

: 00:40:05

Put it another way.

782

: 00:40:05

We could say, what type of

person do you want to lead you?

783

: 00:40:09

If you're like, oh, I

would follow that person.

784

: 00:40:10

I want that person to be my coach.

785

: 00:40:11

I want that person to be my trainer.

786

: 00:40:13

I want that person to tell me what to do.

787

: 00:40:18

Jesus is the type of person that you

should you should want to follow is

788

: 00:40:21

the humble person, person who serves

others, the person who loves others.

789

: 00:40:27

Now, humility you might think.

790

: 00:40:28

Humility is thinking, I'm

nothing, thinking I'm worthless.

791

: 00:40:31

Oh, I'm so bad at this.

792

: 00:40:32

I'm not really that good at that.

793

: 00:40:33

I'm really not that talented.

794

: 00:40:34

Maybe that's what you think humility is.

795

: 00:40:35

That's not true.

796

: 00:40:36

Humility.

797

: 00:40:37

As one famous author, put it, humility

is not thinking less of yourself.

798

: 00:40:41

It's not thinking worse about who you are.

799

: 00:40:43

It's thinking of yourself less.

800

: 00:40:46

It's being less occupied with

yourself, less concerned with what I

801

: 00:40:49

want, what I need, what I should get.

802

: 00:40:52

That's what humility is.

803

: 00:40:53

It's not thinking why I'm a

terrible person, I'm a loser.

804

: 00:40:55

Humility is just not

thinking about yourself.

805

: 00:40:58

It's like, oh, I didn't really think

about what I wanted in this situation.

806

: 00:41:02

I was worried about what you wanted.

807

: 00:41:03

I was worried about how to care for you.

808

: 00:41:05

I was worried about how to

love you, how to encourage you.

809

: 00:41:07

I didn't think about what I wanted.

810

: 00:41:09

That's humility.

811

: 00:41:10

So I wanna ask you is what are your

priorities when you show up places?

812

: 00:41:14

When you came to True North

tonight, what did you think about?

813

: 00:41:16

Did you think about, oh,

this is what I want to do.

814

: 00:41:18

I want to do this, I want have this.

815

: 00:41:19

I wanna talk to this

person, I'm gonna do this.

816

: 00:41:21

Or what are you thinking?

817

: 00:41:22

How can I encourage these people?

818

: 00:41:23

How can I help these people?

819

: 00:41:24

How can I love these people?

820

: 00:41:26

When you go to school,

what do you think about?

821

: 00:41:27

Do you think about, oh,

what do I get outta this?

822

: 00:41:29

This is so lame.

823

: 00:41:30

I hate this.

824

: 00:41:31

Or do you think about who can I bless?

825

: 00:41:33

Who can I encourage?

826

: 00:41:34

What can I do to, to encourage

my teacher or my friends?

827

: 00:41:39

What about when you come home

or you know, what do I get?

828

: 00:41:42

I come home, I wanna do my things.

829

: 00:41:43

I wanna play my games.

830

: 00:41:44

I wanna watch my videos.

831

: 00:41:45

I wanna watch my shows.

832

: 00:41:46

I want to do things the

way I want to do them.

833

: 00:41:49

Or you thinking about other people, oh,

what, what does my sibling want to do?

834

: 00:41:54

How can my parents, how

can I help my parents?

835

: 00:41:56

Have a great weekend?

836

: 00:41:58

Does that ever cross your mind?

837

: 00:42:01

Jesus says, that's the type

of person that is great.

838

: 00:42:05

That's an awesome person.

839

: 00:42:08

So remember our main point,

self-focused and self-interest

840

: 00:42:10

have no place in God's people.

841

: 00:42:13

So humility is essential to

everything about being a Christian.

842

: 00:42:16

You can't love people

without being humble.

843

: 00:42:18

'cause if you're all, if all

you're thinking about is yourself,

844

: 00:42:20

you're never gonna love someone.

845

: 00:42:21

Think about that in a, in a relationship.

846

: 00:42:23

Would you, would you wanna be in a

relationship with someone who only

847

: 00:42:26

thought about themself that would stink?

848

: 00:42:29

Right.

849

: 00:42:29

What, oh, what do you wanna do tonight?

850

: 00:42:30

Well, I really like this.

851

: 00:42:33

You don't wanna do that day

in, day out worship, right?

852

: 00:42:36

You only worship if you're humble.

853

: 00:42:38

If you, if you think all about yourself,

you're never gonna worship or faith.

854

: 00:42:42

Faith doesn't work unless you're

not thinking about, you have

855

: 00:42:46

to think about other people to,

to, to have faith, to trust God.

856

: 00:42:49

You can't be focused on yourself.

857

: 00:42:51

So humility is essential to everything

about being a Christian, and

858

: 00:42:54

humility makes everything better.

859

: 00:42:58

And that's what I want you to

take away from tonight's message.

860

: 00:43:00

So let's pray and let's

head to small groups.

861

: 00:43:03

God thank you that you sent Jesus, who,

if anyone had the right to be prideful,

862

: 00:43:08

it would be Jesus the greatest man to

ever live because he's God in the flesh.

863

: 00:43:14

But Jesus humbled himself to the point

of death, death on the cross, to be

864

: 00:43:18

shamefully executed for sinners like

us, and gave his life as a ransom.

865

: 00:43:26

To save people.

866

: 00:43:27

So God, I pray that you would help

us to, to follow Jesus' example, to

867

: 00:43:31

think about others, to love others,

to even approach our small groups

868

: 00:43:34

thinking about others, and help us to

put our, our selfish motives to death.

869

: 00:43:40

I pray that you purify us.

870

: 00:43:42

I pray that you help us to learn

how to, to fight for humility.

871

: 00:43:45

And I pray that you help us to

take our focus off of ourselves

872

: 00:43:47

and put it ultimately onto you.

873

: 00:43:49

'cause we wanna follow

you and we wanna love you.

874

: 00:43:51

We pray this in Jesus name.

875

: 00:43:52

Amen.