The Church of Eleven22 - Wk 3: Before All Things

Episode Date: December 10, 2017

For Christ to be Before All Things in my life: - I know that the purpose of my life is to point to Jesus (John 1:31) - He must increase I must decrease (John 3:30) - At the end of my life I would know HE is my treasure (Hebrews 11:35)

Amen and amen and amen. Church, is it not amazing what the Lord has done in us and through us and to us? Amen? And it's not to us, but to him and Him alone be the glory. And so this weekend represents the culmination of before all things. And the reason that we're not calling it the end is because the reality that Jesus is preeminent or before all things will never, ever end. And this two-year journey was not primarily about finding. for us to raise money to do stuff.

It was primarily about God doing stuff in us. And I hope and pray that you will take the peace that is on your seat. I pray that you will take that home and you will look over it and you will praise God for it and you will pray for all of the individuals represented in those numbers. Because God has done some amazing things like, I mean, this blows me away, that we planted 153 churches. You know the goal was 100 churches. And when we said we're going to plant 100 churches in the next two years, everybody was like,

we don't even believe you. We think you make stuff up, okay? And we exceeded that goal by 53. We planted 153 autonomous churches, which means, imagine what God will do in those 153 churches. Like, what if 1122 isn't the big thing that happens in this generation? What if we're just kind of the launch pad for what God wants to do in the next generation? Amen? And it doesn't happen here in Jacksonville, but we just got to be a part of the front end on it.

And we got it going in Brazil or East Africa. Not only that, some of you might be into this. Some of you'll get nervous about it. I don't care. The per person giving during before all things went from $29 a person to $41 a person. Here's why I mentioned that. Here's why I mentioned it. Because Jesus said, this is why it's important to me.

We were having an elders meeting about this stuff, about finances and all this stuff and everything's good. But, you know, there's like accountants there and that kind of stuff. And when I saw that thing, I was like, I kind of took over the meeting, which I have a tendency to do. I was like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Do you guys realize what's happening here? You see, it's hard. Like, how do you measure discipleship, right? Like, I can't put like a discipleship meter on you and measure your love for Jesus.

Like, it's hard to find. But Jesus said, where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. So as a church, guess what happened over the last two years? as we declare that Jesus is before all things, that in the life of our church, not only are people discovering a relationship with Jesus for the very first time, but people, us, we are also deepening our relationship with Jesus,

and it's evidence because the generosity is growing and growing and growing and growing, and we are in the disciple making business, and we are making more and more and more disciples. and maybe my favorite one of all is this, that during this before all things, discipleship journey, there were 1,805 people that surrendered their life to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Amen. So again, just as a reminder, Colossians, chapter 1, verse 17, says, and he is before all things. And in him, all things hold together. He is the head of the body, the church, He is the beginning, the firstborn, that word means proto-toko, like he is the prototype from the dead that in everything he might be preeminent.

For in Him and Jesus, all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell. And through Him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of His cross. That is what this has been about from the very beginning. And Church, I want to thank you for. your generosity because the whole point was not that our church would respond to a sermon generously, but we would learn to live generously in response to the gospel. And so we're going to continue in this Christmas series.

And the guy that we're going to look at is John the Baptist. So if you got your Bibles, grab them. It'd probably be best to go to John Chapter 1. And the reason we're going to look at John the Baptist is because John the Baptist lives his life with Jesus before all things. And I apologize for my voice. I don't know where it went. I lost it. I really plan on yelling at you a lot tonight.

I don't think I'll make it through, but we'll see how it goes, okay? And so, John the Baptist is an example of what it looks like to declare that Jesus is before all things. And the crazy thing about John is it started for him before he was even born. In the book of Malachi, which is the last book of the Old Testament, the prophet Malachi, in chapter four, just before the Old Testament ends, and there's 400 years of silence, Malachi gives a prophecy. Malachi chapter 4, verses 5 and 6, and says this, and behold, I will send you Elijah, the prophet, before the great and awesome day of the Lord, and he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, and then there's 400 years of nothing, silence. And then when you turn a few pages and you get to Luke, chapter 1,

verses 16 and 17, Zechariah, John the Babes' dad. This is the prophecy that he speaks over his unborn son at this point. He says this about John the Baptist. He says, and he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God. And he will go before him in the spirit and the power of Elijah. And you're like, what does that mean? Here's what this means. When John the Baptist would preach, he was not nice about it.

In fact, usually the way he would open up his sermons is something like this. People would show up to hear him preach and he started this way. You brood of vipers. That's the first century way of just introducing the sermon with, you wretched black-hearted sinners. Like if I look deep into your soul, I see a snake pit. That's kind of how he preached. Elijah was kind of the same way. There's a point in the life of Elijah, the prophet Elijah,

that he took on 850 prophets on Mount Karens. caramel, or caramel, but if you're where I'm from, it's caramel. And he took on 850 prophets, and there's this whole section there where he just smack talks to these other prophets. He's not nice about it, he's not politically correct about it, he was tolerant of nothing. He just came at him and said, we'll see who's God's bigger, your God, or my God. And they had this kind of WWE showdown. And at one point, when their false God didn't show up, he starts poking fun at him and saying,

Where's your God? Maybe you need to cry louder. Maybe you need to sing louder. Maybe your God's taking a nap. At one point, he said, maybe your God's on the toilet. That's what he says, okay? And so it's that kind of spirit that John the Baptist is going to show up with, with the spirit and the power of Elijah,

to turn the hearts of fathers to the children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just and to make ready for the Lord, a people prepared. not only did Malachi prophesied about John the Baptist also Isaiah in Isaiah chapter 40 verse 3 it says this in the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord make straight in the desert a highway for our God this was talking about John before John the Baptist was even born remember this a couple weeks ago when Mary shows up to Elizabeth's house Mary is pregnant with Jesus Elizabeth is pregnant with John the Baptist and John in utero worships when fetus Jesus shows up. So he's got this connection with the Lord that none of us have, okay? There's something special about him. And, in fact, in Matthew chapter 11, Jesus says this about John the Baptist. He says, truly, I say to you, among those born of women, there has arisen no one greater than John the Baptist.

So this dude is legit. Now, here's what I'm not saying you're not awesome. I'm just saying, Jesus didn't say anything about you being the greatest. He says, John the Baptist, of all those born of women, that means all of them, that John the Baptist is the greatest. And so when you get to John chapter one, John shows up on the scene. And if you're new to Bible study, John in the book of John is a different John than John the Baptist.

And the fact that this name is John the Baptist is because he baptized people. It's not like Pete the Presbyterian and Mike the Method. and John the Baptist. That's not how it worked. It's just because he baptized people. So that's where we're going to pick it up. John chapter 1, verse 19. And this is the testimony of John. When the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, who are you? And he confessed and he did not deny, but confessed, I am not the Christ.

And they ask him, what then? Are you Elijah? And he said, I'm not. Now remember, his dad said he was going to come in the power of Elijah. Elijah. There's not like this karma thing or this reincarnation thing. They say, are you the prophet? And he answered no. Verse 22. So they said, so they said to him, who are you? We need to give an answer to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself? And he said, I am the voice of the one crying out in the wilderness, make straight the way of the Lord as the prophet Isaiah said. So check this out if you are John the Baptist. That John the Baptist read verses.

in the Bible and knew that they were specific prophecies about himself. He knew exactly what God's plan was for his life when he's at the Jordan River baptizing people and calling people to repent and get ready for the Lord. Verse 24 now, they had been sent from the Pharisees and they asked him, then why are you baptizing? If you were neither the Christ nor Elijah nor the prophet and John answered them, I baptized with water.

But among you stands one, you do not know, even he who comes after me, he checks out, the strap of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie. So, John the Baptist has begun to get some serious notoriety. I mean, he's out at the Jordan River, he's way away from town. He's a super eclectic guy. He kind of wore some weird clothes. He ate some weird food. He stayed outdoors all the time, didn't have a lot of friends. The only thing he did was yell at people, repent, repent, and be baptized. And, you know, you can make a good list. He ate some weird clothes. He ate some weird food. He stayed. He stayed outdoors. He stayed repent and be baptized. And you can make a good living yelling at people

and calling them bad names all the time. And thousands of people will show up and that's what began to happen. And then when they come in, here's his chance to make much of himself. And they say, so who are you? And why are you doing this? And why are you baptizing?

And what he could have said, is he good to say, well, didn't you read the prophet Isaiah? I don't know this, but I'm kind of a big deal. Like I am a significant part of the meta-narrative of God's redemptive history in this world. But he doesn't do that.

He basically says, hey, listen, it's not about me. It's just not about me. And the one who comes after me, I'm not even worthy to carry his gym bag. Like, I can't lace up his Jordans, okay? As soon as he gets here, nobody will be talking about me anymore. It's not about me.

Let me just ask you, in your average, every day going about work, school, whatever. You ever take credit for some stuff that you really ought to give God credit for? I mean, you don't really think about it. Somebody just at work says, hey man, good job. And you just go, thanks. Even though you know you had nothing to do with that deal. You had nothing to do with that loan. You had nothing to do with it. You knew that it was God of provision in your life. Or people look at your children and they're like, wow, you have such well-behaved children. They're like, well, it's because of the parenting. All right? I mean, you begin to take credit for things, not John the Baptist. He's never, ever going to do this.

single time somebody gives him any notoriety, all he will ever do is declare with his mouth and with his life that Jesus is before all things, that this thing is not about me, but it is about the one in whom I speak of. It goes on to verse 28. These things took place in Bethany, across the Jordan, where John was baptizing. Verse 29, the next day, he saw Jesus coming toward him and said, quote, behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Now, don't run by that too quickly. Okay, this is a really, really big deal. He's out there, he's baptizing people. He's preaching these sermons. He's having these theological discussions with some Pharisees and scribes and stuff. And then one day, his first cousin, Jesus, shows up on the scene and he stops everything.

and I just want you to understand the theological significance of this statement. This singular statement is the gospel of Jesus Christ. He's talking to a bunch of Jewish people and he says, Behold, which means pay attention, wake up, get off Facebook. What I'm about to say next is super, super important. Behold, and he's looking at Jesus and he says, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. Now, when he makes this statement, he is telling everybody there the purpose of Jesus coming to this earth.

And the purpose was that Jesus would be the fulfillment of the substitutionary atoning sacrificial system. And basically, everything from Genesis chapter 3 all the way to Malachi has been talking about that singular moment right there. Behold, pay attention. the Lamb of God comes to take away the sin of the entire world. You see, the whole thing gets kicked off this way. God,

God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Out of God's love for God's self, God creates everything that is for one reason for his glory. And yet, he decides to create mankind, humankind, in his own image, not because he was lonely, not because he wanted us to get together and sing him songs on the weekend and disobey him all week.

That was not what he was into. But to display his glory out of an overflow of God's love for God's self, he creates mankind in his own image. To commune with them and worship and adoration. And it goes awesome for like one page. And then the enemy comes in and offers them something else. And the very first human beings thought that their way was better than God's way. And they sin.

They sin against the whole. Almighty God. And when they do, they run and they hide and they sow fig leaves and the garden and they try to cover up their own nakedness because they are ashamed. It was the world's very first religion where Adam and Eve said, no, God, I don't need you by my own works. I can cover my sin and shame. And then the Almighty God comes walking through the garden, calling out their name. And he finds them because they had run and they had hid. And then you know what God does? He judges them. because he is a just God. But before he kicks him out of the garden,

the Bible says that he makes garments for them. Which means for the first time in world history, that blood was shed for the covering of sin. It was a picture of what God would do. And he says to the woman, and I will put enmity between your offspring and this enemy. And this enemy is going to bruise his heel, but your offspring will crush his head.

And for the whole rest of the Bible, everybody is looking for this serpent crusher. And then you go along a little ways, and the children of Israel find themselves in Egypt, and they cry out to God, Lord save us. And so Moses shows up to go to Pharaoh to say, let my people go, and they kind of battle it out for a while. And then the ultimate blow is the day of Passover. When God tells Moses, go and take a perfect spotless lamb, and shed the blood of the lamb, and put the,

blood of the lamb on the doorpost of your house because an angel of death is coming. And if you've got the blood on the doorpost of your house of the perfect spotless lamb, then the angel of death will pass you over. And it bought them freedom out of slavery. And then Moses goes up on Mount Sinai and he gets the Ten Commandments and he comes down and everybody realizes that we're 0 for 10. And so God sets up this temple system where every single year there's the day of atonement and I've gone over this about 100 million times with us,

but it is very, very important. This is what John the Baptist is talking about, that every year on the Day of Atonement, the people of God would gather, they would confess their sins out loud, and the high priests would stand there and hear their sins. And he would transfer the sins of the people to the head of this goat, this scape goat.

Pastor Adam two weeks ago taught us the theological term for that. It's expiation. And they would transfer the sins, the confess sins of the people of God to the head of this goat, and then they would cast the goat outside of the city, and so people would watch the sins depart as far as the east is from the west. Then he would take another animal, a lamb, into the Holy of Holies, the place that represented the very presence of God.

And after consecrating himself, he would shed the blood of this lamb, and he would sprinkle the blood of that lamb over the mercy seed, over the ark of the covenant. And the cover of that ark was called the perpetuation, which means a payment that satisfies. So that when the Almighty God looked down, he did not see his broken laws by his people, but he saw the blood of a lamb covering over our sins.

And they had to do it year after year after year after year. So there was the sacrifice of the garden, there was the sacrifice of the Passover, and there was the yearly sacrifice at the temple. And what that bought the Jewish people was a Lamb of God would cover over the sin of the Jewish people for one year. And they did it over? It was like opening Christmas presents, man.

It was just coming. It was coming. It was coming. It was coming. And then one day, John the Baptist, this guy says, behold, pay attention. This is a really big deal. The Lamb of God. Not another Lamb of God.

The. The Lamb of God. Who comes to take away the sin, not cover over the sin of the entire world, not just one specific ethnic group of people, but it was a movement for all people. And so John the Baptist is the first person to herald the gospel in the New Testament, the first person to declare that this is what Jesus came to do, that he's not just a teacher, that he's not just a rabbi, but he is the Savior and a suffering Savior.

Verse 30. He says, this is he of whom I said. after me comes a man who ranks before me because he was before me. Now, what he means here is that Jesus is eternal because John the Baptist says six months older than his cousin Jesus. And yet J.B. says, nope, Jesus is older to me. Why? Because he is preeminent. He is before all things. Verse 31. And I myself did not know him, but check this out. But for this purpose I came, baptizing with water, that he might be revealed to Israel. So don't miss this, church. John understood that the point of his life was to point people to Jesus.

He knew it. He knew it that the point of his life is to point people to Jesus. Now, pay attention. That's also the point of your life. Period. Period. Now, you're going to do some other stuff, but it's all about disimportant as compared to that one thing. The point of your life, if Jesus is a lot of your life, if Jesus is,

before all things, is to point people to Jesus. And a lot of times what we try to do, especially as like Southern evangelical Christians, is we just kind of want to live our own life and then try to fit Jesus into it. That is not the way it works. Okay, this is not your story. This is his story. And that our story is for his glory. And if we could get our mind around that one thing, it would free you up to actually.

actually lived this life like you were created to. And a lot of times, a lot of times, I'm telling you, you think like a John the Baptist kind of guy or the kind of person that spends their whole life trying to point other people to Jesus is for the spiritually elite, for the radical, for the missionaries, for the preachers. But listen, it's for you.

Do you know why you have the job you have? It is to glorify God. It is to point people to Jesus. Do you know why you live in the neighborhood you live in? it's because God decided it was not an accident you did not live you don't live in the neighborhood you live in because of the school system you live in the neighborhood you live in for the glory of God you don't go to school that you go to because you didn't get in it was the first choice

and now you had to go to this other one that the sovereign hand of God put you there just like John the Baptist was put at the Jordan to say but for this purpose I came that my entire life would point to him Now, that doesn't necessarily mean that you're a preacher like John the Baptist or you're a preacher like me, but it does mean that you live your life in such a way with a different set of values under a different system, with a different set of priorities, that it seems like you're an alien in this world because you're forever home, his not here, but you're a citizen of a different kingdom. That you are sought of the earth.

You're a city on a hill. You're a light put in a dark place. and that the point of your life is to point people to Jesus. Man, and I'm telling you, when you have this kind of like Copernicus moment, Copernicus was a guy that said, you know what, I don't think it all revolves around us, okay? When you have that moment and you begin to realize the whole world does not revolve around you, I'm just telling you, there is a freedom there that begins to change everything. Then you don't think that everything in the world has to go your way.

you'll be less frustrated in traffic because you don't think you are the Moses of JTB where you pull out and everybody's supposed to park because you got somewhere to go, okay? You begin to realize that God has you here on a mission and on purpose. Verse 32. And John bore witness. He says, I saw the spirit descend from heaven like a dove

and it remained on him. And I myself did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me. This is the spirit of God telling John the Baptist, this is Jesus. He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit. Now see, what John is recording here, the disciple John, what he is recording is the baptism of Jesus. And there's some different details in each of the four Gospels about the baptism of Jesus.

And some people look at that and they're like, well, how come Matthew shares some of the details? And Luke says some different ones. And John, he left the whole dunking part out. Well, here's why. It's not like they're all telling different stories, but they're telling the same story from different perspectives, right? It would be just like, I don't know, take an event in American history that was just really profound and matters a lot, like the SEC Championship. So if you were to watch that, like on Fox News 1, they may show from a touchdown, but if you watch it on ESPN, they may show Swift jump over the top. You see what I'm saying?

Like there's so many touchdowns to choose from that they could show. different ones only you're tracking with me here, everybody understand? Hopefully that'll help you understand your Bible's better. And so that's what's going on here. And so he says, I have seen and have borne witness that this is the son of God. Now, why does John the Baptist use these words? This is the son of God? Because we find out in Matthew and Luke is that when John the Babus comes down, I mean when Jesus comes down, they have this little discussion about who should baptize who? And eventually Jesus is like, seriously the man, it's in the Bible, you got to do, you got

to baptize me. He's like, all right. And so, he baptizes Jesus. And then the Bible says the heavens open up. And God the Father speaks out loud and says, behold, my son and whom I am well pleased. And then

the spirit of God descends on the son of God like a dove. And here at his baptism we have the triune God. God, the Son being baptized, God, the spirit descending like a dove, and God the Father talking out loud, behold, my son, in whom I am well pleased.

And so, John the Baptist is kind of a big deal. I mean, Jesus said he was the greatest born among women. I mean, again, he's worshipping in utero. There's prophecy about him, and he is the guy. He, like, opens for Jesus. He's the guy that tells everybody, here he is. Behold, the Lamb of God, who comes to take away the sand of the entire.

world. And so you would think, you would think, okay, if this is, if this is like a video in an evangelical church, like ours, then right now we would begin to talk to John DeBaptist about, okay, so then what happened in your life? And he'd be like, then it got awesome, okay? Because God was on my side. Everywhere I went, I had green lights and parking places up front at the mall during Christmas, and I got a raise, and I won the lottery, and I got a date, even with my crazy hair, and I ate locust, and, you know, I found one girl on any harm, and it was into that. It was cool. It was really cool, right? Jesus saves.

That's not what happens. If you flip over to John chapter 3, this is sometime later, after John's finished talking with, I mean, after Jesus finished talking with John the Baptist, I mean, Nicodemus, pick it up in verse 25. It says, now a discussion arose between some of John's disciples and a Jew over purification. Now, when it says purification here, that's just like another word for baptism, because that's what Old Testament baptism was. It was purification. And they came to John and they said, Rabbi, he who was with you across the Jordan, they're trying my Jesus from chapter one,

he who was with you across the Jordan to whom you bore witness, look, he's baptizing. And they're all going to him. And his disciples are bothered by this. They're like, hey boss, we're losing market share. I mean, what's going on here, man? I mean, our church was going awesome, and then a newer, cooler church with a better preacher

moved in right down the street. street. Everybody's going over there. Let's stop them. Let's send out some mean tweets or something. Like there's this weird mix of kind of jealousy and insecurity going on. And here's what John the Babus is going to do. You see, John the Baptist is going to live his life to declare that Jesus is before all things. Verse 27. And John answered, a person cannot receive even one thing unless it is given him from heaven. Let me read that again. A person cannot receive

even one thing unless it is given him from heaven. I would highly encourage you to memorize that scripture. If you could understand that one biblical truth, it would change your life forever. The way we say it around here is this, is you can't give me what God has not,

and you can't keep me from what God has. And if we would begin to actually believe that, mean at the deep down soul level. Like everything I have is from him that I cannot receive one thing. Now, John the Baptist is talking about people. He's talking about whatever people God sends to me, I'm going to dunk them and send them to him anyway. But here's what will happen if you believe that truth that you cannot receive even one

thing unless it's given to you from heaven. Here's what will begin to happen. No jealousy. You'll never be jealous. because you'll never look at another person and say, I wish I had what you have, because you'll understand that I can only receive what God has given me. And so I can't take what's not mine.

And it will also cure you of codependence. Because you can't give me anything that God hasn't decided to give me. And you can't keep me from anything that God has decided that is mine. It'll cure you from comparing. And I'm telling you, anytime you compare, you lose. The comparison trap is always a lose-lose proposition. You'll either be puffed up with pride or beaten down with condemnation. Both of those are from the enemy.

If you believe this, it will cure you of complaining. Because how could you complain of your circumstances when you understand that the sovereign hand of God has placed you on purpose in those circumstances? It will cure us of envy. It would cure us of coveting. If we would believe a person cannot receive even one thing, unless it is given him from heaven, it will free you up.

Check this out. To rejoice when people are blessed. Because how evil and carnal are we? Don't you just have some people in your family? And they call you and be like, you're not going to believe this. I got another raise. You're like, seriously, another one?

Praise God. But you don't mean it. Because what you really think is, God, you're not doing this, right? don't you know I got a church on Thursday like I'm really into it all right I'll lead a disciple group I'm planning on hosting a mission trip like I do stuff for you

and my good for another brother-in-law Ted he's worth half worthless man and why does he keep getting stuff that I want and see it would relieve us of those kind of feelings and you know what it would be called if we really embrace

not just believe but embrace that a person can't receive even one thing unless it is given to him from heaven. That would be called peace. That would be called learning the secret of being content in every situation. Can you imagine that? Yeah, you don't have to imagine it because it is the invitation of the almighty God. Come to me all you who are weary and heavy burden.

Everybody that's freaking out because you want something and you don't have it. And Jesus says, yeah, yeah, bring that to me. That's heavy, isn't it? Isn't that hard to carry around? I mean a bunch of wants, a bunch of unmet expectations. And Jesus is like, cool, bring that to me. And I will give you rest. I will give you rest for your soul.

This is what John the Baptist is saying. By the way, as his ministry is declining, like it was booming back in the day. Everybody's showing up to hear him yell at everybody. And then sure enough, he baptizes Jesus. God the father speaks out loud and a dove lands on his head. And now everybody's following him around. And he can do miracles.

And so with that in mind, he still has this purpose. perspective. A person cannot receive even one thing unless it is given to him from heaven. Verse 28. You yourselves bear me witness that I said, I am not the Christ, but I have been sent before him. John the Baptist is like, do you all not pay attention when I talk? I told you this is what was going to happen. I told you it was not about me. It was all about him. Verse 29, The one who has the bride is the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom who stands and hears him rejoices greatly at the bridegroom's voice. Here's what he's saying.

He's like, imagine you went to a wedding, okay? Imagine you went to a wedding. How awkward would it be if one of your groomsmen made the whole ceremony about him? That's what he's saying. He said, listen, in this, in this, um, cosmic. plan to redeem the universe, I am not the bride or the groom, I'm just one of the groomsmen. My job was just to hold the door and get everybody ready for when the groom showed up. Listen, I do a lot of weddings.

Can you imagine if you showed up to a wedding? They began to play that here comes the bride thing, you know? Everybody waits for that moment. Everybody, you know, the girls and those weird dresses come down real slow, looking awkward. You can tell who wears high heels and don't. Some of them are like, this is good. you should practice there are people watching guys are over there staying and just like freaking out what do we do what do we do every time before I go out to do a wedding I look at the boys I'm like

you guys ready he's like I'm like all right uh lock your knees hold your breath hope for the best is that no no yeah we can't remember I'm waiting for one of just peel over okay so can you imagine like when everybody walks in and they get in their places and then they do it and the doors open and one of the grooms was like yep that's me and he runs around and he comes walking through, you'd be like, bro, what are you doing? You're making this awkward for everybody. Or when I do the, who gives this woman to be married to this man, and instead of the dad, I do, college roommate from three years ago, I'm okay with it, right?

Or if you're in the vows, I was like, do you take, do you take? He was like, I vow a couple things too, okay? I'm going to be over every Saturday night, all right? I'm going to help him gain a lot of weight and be mad. You know, that kind of thing. At some point, you'd be like, hey, bro, can you? shut up, this is not about you. When we try to make church about us,

that's how ridiculous we look. That's what John the Baptist is saying. When we try to make this thing about us, that's how ridiculous we look. So when you leave the bride every weekend, which is the church, okay? When you leave the gathering of the saints, I mean, ask you this, what do you talk about?

Because have you ever left a wedding and talked about the groomsmen? You see it? No, man, because they're supposed to just kind of be there. when you leave church what do you talk about do you talk about the band you're talking about me hope not because it is not about me it's not about the band do you talk about you or do you talk about christ and what he's doing through the bride by the way that's what culmination weekend is all about it's not about this local church 1122 it is about the church of christ putting on display

the glory of god for all to see to see and understand that he is before all things this is the example, this is the illustration that John the Baptist is giving. And then he says this. He says, therefore, this joy of mine is now complete. Isn't that crazy?

Yeah, but you don't have the market share you did. You don't have the popularity you used to. People are going that way, not your way, and he's like, right, right, right. The moment that you begin to realize, it's not about you, it's all about Christ, then and then alone can you say, therefore this joy of mine is now complete. When Jesus is truly before all things in your life,

I'm not talking about like you made a commitment and you fulfilled it and you feel good about that. I'm talking about in every arena and aspect of your life, you begin to realize that the point of your life is to point people to him. You begin to realize that he is preeminent in all things in your life. It's like the handles of this world just fall off. I use this example. time because it's the only thing I can in my mind it makes a lot of sense I don't think I describe it very well but it's like we're born with these handles and this world we live in this

world of like I have this picture of like the walking dead and it's kind of slow but it's coming after us and it's trying to grab us and we've got these handles and for some people it's lust or greed or power or comfort or whatever it is but as we begin to understand and declare and live out and experience that Jesus is before all things in our life as we begin to understand that we can say, therefore this joy of mine is now complete. And it's like the handles fall off of us and this world can't grab on to anything. It's why the apostle Paul would say to live as Christ, to die his gain. What do you do with a brother like that? We're going to kill you, Paul. Sweet, heaven. All right, never mind, we're going to put you in jail. Awesome. I'll leave them to Christ.

Put him in that jail. Give me a hymnal. I'm going to sing the walls down. Like, what do you do with that guy? Can you imagine the peace and freedom of living like that? Again, you don't have to imagine it. It is the invitation to follow Jesus. He says, therefore, this joy of mine is now complete, verse 30, maybe the most famous thing John the Baptist said, talking about Jesus. He must increase and I must decrease. You ever heard that before? He must increase and I must decrease. There's some really cool bumper stickers and stuff that say that kind of thing right now. Really cool. Everybody's got them on their jeeps and stuff. Awesome. Except, I don't think anybody really wants that. here's what I think we really want.

In Western evangelical Christianity, here's what we want. Christ, you must increase and then increase me with you. That's what we want. I must be honest, right? Jesus, you are before all things, and you are preeminent, and all the glory go to you. And then just keep me like right there with you. So as you increase, I mean, you're still more awesome than me,

but it's made me kind of awesome too. don't you remember the boys in the disciple his one of his disciples sent his mom and said hey mom can you go ask him like as he's increasing can we sit at your right and left and Jesus is like no it doesn't work that way you see this is what John the Baptist is saying

there is a there's a group of people in evangelical world are trying to get me write a book right now okay and that's just the way the machine works right playing a church it gets big you preach the conferences and you got to write a book And everybody's like, when you're going to write a book? And I'm like, when I have an original idea, I'll jot it down.

Until then, I'm like, Jesus, I'll just dood in the sand. All right. And so, and here's what they say. If you really want it to sell, that it should be a book on blessings. That's what sells the best. I'm like, are you serious? That's why I don't want to write one right now. Because mine would be the promises of God, and they'd be all the ones about how we're going to die.

That's what that would be. Promise number one. In this life you will face troubles of many kind. You see, because the number one foundational value of today is this, self-fulfillment. That's what it is, man. This is it. This is the foundational value in our culture right now. You can't tell me who I am.

You can't tell me what to do. You can't tell me what's right or wrong. Only I get to tell me that and I get to self-determine what fulfills me, even if it comes at great expense to someone else. so be it. And we have a culture right now that has traded perseverance, which is a biblical value, for passion.

Well, this is what I'm passionate about. I mean, we celebrate the anniversary of Pearl Harbor today. A group of a generation that made others deal bigger than their own deal. And now we are just ruled by our passions. It's what all the cake stuff is about right now because somebody didn't get what they want. regardless of where you land on those kind of political hot topics,

it is the fundamental value of our society. Here's the problem with that, the gospel. The gospel is fundamentally about self-denial, period. Because we also live in a world, in a kind of an evangelical Christian world that is just a kind of a baptized version of that, where people just use God for their own self-fulfillment. because they think, well, if I just love God, then it works out for me

because then he has to let me into heaven. And if you think you can use God for an end, God is not a means to an end. He is the end. The treasure of the gospel is not what you get out of it. The treasure of the gospel is your relationship with God, and he is more than enough, period, end dot. And so again, the primary value in our society is self-fulfillment. The baseline of the gospel is self-de-defense.

denial that I must decrease. Don't believe me? Matthew 1039. Whoever finds his life will lose it. And whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. Luke 923. And he said to all, if anyone would come after me,

let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. And listen, he said this before crosses were like cool tattoos or patches on shirts or necklaces. It meant to deny yourself, not get what you want. Maybe my favorite in Galatians 220. I have been crucified with Christ. That means I have been beaten, bloodied bruise. I've had my rights taken away from me. I have had a crown of thorns pushed down on me. I have had my worldview spit upon and made fun of. I have lost everything that I wanted. I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me and the life that I now live in the flesh,

I live by faith and the son of God who love me and gave himself for me. You see, it's totally at odds with our current American culture, totally at odds. And again, what we want to do is just to live our happy, comfortable Christian life and then invite God to come in and join us in our plans. That's fine. It's just called idolatry. That is very different. That is fundamentally different

than surrendering your life to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Saying you must increase and I must decrease. Now the crazy thing is, I almost hate to tell you this part in God's economy. As he increases and you decrease, that is where your increase is because you realize your only true increase is in him. And then every week, man,

as much as I fuss at you about this, I still get somebody who goes, well, listen, God just wants me to be happy. Who told you that? Happy. Happy is cotton candy to your dog, just, you know, for a second, it's gone. No. God wants you, sometimes he does want you to be happy, but he wants something much deeper. He wants you to, he wants you to be able to say what John the Baptist said, my joy is now complete. You think he was happy? No, we're going to find out a minute, it, not at all. And yet God is after something much greater than your happiness. He's going to go on to say in verse 36, whoever believes in the sun has eternal life, whoever does not obey the sun shall not see life. But the wrath of God remains on him.

So John the Baptist says, look, he must increase, I must decrease. What are he talking about, John? Verse 36, he's the only one that offers eternal life. You want to get wet in the Jordan? Come follow me. You want to go to heaven? Follow after Jesus. That's what he's saying. you would think if you didn't know the rest of the story you would think that John the Baptist would get blessed because he's I mean he's like he's on point

he's he's declaring Jesus is before all things and listen listen it doesn't go good for John the Baptist and here's what some of you have experienced in this before all things journey man you were here with us two years ago you got all worked up me too

we're singing before all things hands up one eye closed you can still get the words you can't quite memorize the end You made this big commitment. You're telling people about Jesus. And then you started following Jesus, and it got worse. And you're like, wait a minute. Because you're flipping through, they never show that testimony on Christian TV, do they?

Follow Jesus. It could end poorly. Never. It's always good. I used to be on drugs. Then I met Jesus. Now I started a drug company, and I owned the world. That's what it's like.

Except for the guys in the Bible. You see, John the Brabis is going to go to prison. It's a really, you should read your Bible, okay? It's a really crazy what was going on. There was a guy named Herod the Tetrarch, and he stole his brother, he had a brother named Philip, and he stole his brother's wife. He's hooking up with his sister-in-law, all right? And her name was Herodias, which means like Herod's girl.

I don't think that's her original name. I don't know if you can understand this, but you know there was a time when there were politicians were not on the up and up. Can you believe that? That's crazy. Like sexual stuff, too. It's unbelievable. And so, one night.

he's at a party messing around with his sister-in-law and his niece starts stripping for him and he gets all crazy and makes promises and he's like I'll give you anything and she's like all right how about the head of John the Baptist now you would think in this moment Jesus would show up and declare he is preeminent and just crush everybody and so in the meantime John the Baptist this is in Matthew chapter 11 John the Baptist sends his disciples to go ask Jesus this question. Jesus, are you the one or should we look for another one? John the Baptist is thinking this, which is why I say this all the time. Hey, listen, do you have some doubts? Anybody got some unanswered questions? Anybody got some stuff in their life where God didn't do what you thought he ought to do? I do.

I got some stuff in my family right now. multiple examples of things where I just can't figure God out. And I know lots of Bible verses and read many theological books for fun. That's me. And I got some stuff where I want to go, what are you doing? What are you doing? John the Baptist is in jail thinking. The only reason I'm here is because I was teaching the truth.

You see, John the Baptist would preach sermons about how what Herod was doing was evil. And so he locked him up. He was preaching the righteousness of Christ. And he gets put in jail for it. And in those moments, he had some doubts. And so he says, hey, go talk to Jesus and say, are you the one to come or shall we look for another? And here's what Jesus does.

You ready for this? I don't know if it's mean or kind. And John the Baptist says, I mean, Jesus says, he begins to quote Isaiah chapter 61. Isaiah 61 is a prophecy about what will happen when the Messiah comes. He goes, hey, hey, listen, you go tell J.B. that you have seen the eyes of the blind open. You go tell John the Baptist that you have seen the lame walk.

you have seen the sick get healed. You have seen the poor be fed. You have seen the Lord's anointed declare the gospel. There's one promise in Isaiah 61 that Jesus does not quote, the captains go free. Yeah, he says, yes, I am the one. And you go tell John the Baptist it's not going to end good for him. And here's what's crazy.

We never hear from John the Baptist again. Which you know what I've got to believe that means is this, is that John the Baptist, in the very last days of his life, before he loses his head, in prison, beheaded because of Harry getting all worked out by watching his niece dance. He never recants. He never says, I don't worry about it. I was wrong. That wasn't the guy.

We're waiting on another guy. He never does that. Why? Because he realizes that Jesus is more than enough. And it would be better to die with Christ than to live without him. and from before the moment he was born to the moment when he baptized Christ to all throughout his life when he says

he must increase and I must decrease to his very dying days he believed that Jesus Christ was before all things and there was nothing in this world that could satisfy him like the Messiah could so I got to believe man there's this verse

tucked away in Hebrews chapter 11 Hebrews chapter 11 is a great chapter in the Bible it's called like the Hall of Faith and it kind of the writer of Hebrews he talks about how all these men and women in the Old Testament by faith did this stuff by faith by faith by faith it's pretty awesome

and then when you get down to verse 32 it says this and what more shall I say for the time would fail me to tell of Gideon and Barack and Samson and Jephthah and David and Samuel and the prophets who through faith conquered kingdoms and forced justice obtain promises stop the mouths of lions, quench the power of fire, escape the edge of the sword, were made strong out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight,

women received back their dead by resurrection. In other words, by faith, for some people, things went awesome. And if that's you, praise God. And then there's not even like a transition word here. It just said, and some were tortured. I think this next verse has to have John the Baptist, they mind. Some were tortured, refusing to accept release so that they may rise again to a better life. That's John the Baptist. He's saying Christ is more than enough. More than freedom, more than popularity, more than fame, more than anything else this world has to offer. Here's the point. For Christ to be before all things in my life. And again, listen, as we culminate the before all things initiative, it's not primarily a generosity of the initiative to get us all started up to raise money to do stuff.

That's not what it's about. It is about God doing the stuff in us so that our entire lives declare that Jesus is before all things. For Christ to be before all things in my life, I know that the purpose of my life is appointed Jesus. that he must increase and I must decrease. And at the end of my life, I would know that he and he alone is my treasure. The only way for you be able to treasure Christ more than everything else in this world

is to see him as more valuable. And I'm going to be honest. I needed a little help on this. I was thinking and praying about how in the world that we put the exclamation point on the before all things journey that we've been on for two years. And I remember a video of a sermon that I saw a bunch of years ago.

It's by a guy named S.M. Lockridge. SM stands for Shadrach Mishak. That's his name. Shadrach Mishak Lockridge. He could only be a preacher. That's the only thing you could be if your name is Shadrach Mishat. He was the pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in San Diego, California. and in the mid-80s he preached this sermon.

This is just an excerpt from it. I can't even do it justice. You should YouTube it and it'll be more awesome than me, especially with my voice right now. But this is who Jesus is. His words, he says, My king was born king. The Bible says he's a seven-way king.

He's the king of the Jews. That's an ethnic king. He's the king of Israel. That's a national king. He's the king of righteousness. He's the king of the ages. He's the king of heaven. He's the king of glory.

He's the king of kings, and he's the Lord of Lords. Now that's my king. Well, I wonder if you know him. Do you know him? Don't try to mislead me. Do you know my king? David said, the heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament shows his handiwork.

My king is the only one of whom there are no means of measure that can define his limitless love. No far-seeing telescope can bring into visibility the coastline of the shore of his supplies. No barriers can hinder him from pouring out his blessing. He's enduringly strong. He's entirely sincere. He's eternally steadfast. He's immortally graceful.

He's imperially powerful. He's impartially merciful. That's my king. He's God's son. He's the sinner's savior. He's the centerpiece of civilization. He stands alone in himself. He's honest.

He's unique. He's unparalleled. He's unprecedented. He's supreme. He is preeminent. He's the grandest idea in literature. He's the highest personality in philosophy. He's the supreme problem in higher criticism.

He's the fundamental doctrine of historic theology. He's the carnal necessity of spiritual religion. That's my king. He's the miracle of the age. He's the superlative of every good thing that you choose to call him. He's the only one able to supply all our needs simultaneously. He supplies strength for the weak. He's available for the tempted and the tribe.

He sympathizes and he saves. He's the almighty God who guides and keeps all his people. He heals the sick. He cleanses the leper. He forgives the sinner. He discharged the debtor. He delivers the captives. He defends the people.

He blesses the young. He serves the unfortunate. He regards the agent. He rewards the diligent, and he beautifies the meek. That's my king. Do you know him? Well, my king is a king of knowledge. He's the wellspring of wisdom. He's the doorway of deliverance. He's the pathway of peace. He's the roadway of righteousness. He's the highway of holiness. He's the gateway of glory. He's the master of the mighty. He's the captain of the conquerors. He's the head of the heroes. He's the leader of the legislatures. He's the overseer of the overcomers.

He's the governor of governors. He's the prince of princes. He's the king of kings and he's the lord of lords. That's my king. His office is manifold. His promise is sure. His light is matchless. His goodness is limitless.

His mercy is everlasting. His love never changes. His word is enough. His grace is sufficient. His reign is righteous. His yoke is easy and his burden is light. I wish I could describe him to you, but he's indescribable. That's my king.

He's incomprehensible. He's invincible and he's irresistible. I'm coming to tell you this, that the heavens of heaven can't contain him, let alone some man explain him. You can't get him out of your mind and you can't get him off of your hands. You can't outlive him and you can't live without him. The Pharisees couldn't stand him, but they found out they couldn't stop him. Pilot couldn't find any fault in him.

The witnesses couldn't get their testimonies to agree about him. Herod couldn't kill him. Death couldn't handle him, and the grave couldn't hold him. That's my king. He always has been. He always will be. I'm talking about the fact that he had no predecessor. He'll have no successor.

There's nobody before him. There'll be nobody after him. You can't impeach him. and he's not going to resign. That's my king. Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory. Well, all the power belongs to my king. We're around here talking about black power and white power and green power.

But in the end, all that matters is God's power. Thine is the power, yay, and the glory. We try to get prestige and honor and glory for ourselves, but the glory is all his. Yes. Dine is the kingdom and the power and the glory. Forever and ever and ever. And how long is that?

Forever and ever and ever. And when you get through with all the evers, then amen. Because my king is before all things. Amen. Amen. The church, I exhort you. I exhort you. I exhort you.

To not fall into the trappings of this world, but to declare with your life, with your heart, with your soul, with your mind, with your strength, with everything that you're made of, that he is before all things, that the point of your life is the point to him, that he must increase and we must decrease. And that Jesus Christ, when we get to the very end of our life, that we would be able to look back and realize that he and he alone is the treasure because he is before all things. would you please stand and pray with me.

Our good and gracious Heavenly Father, God, we love you because you love us first. And God, we declare, we declare that you are before all things. God, I pray that you would continue to shape us and mold us as a body of believers, as a movement, as an ecclesia. To discover and deepen a relationship with you, God, you would continue to mold us and shape us into the likeness of your son. that we would declare he is the king of kings and the Lord of Lords, that he is before all things, that he is the firstborn among the dead, the prototype that we will all follow after.

And Spirit, I pray. Lord, I pray by the power of your word, by the power of your spirit, God. You would just chisle away all the things in us that don't look like you. And God, that we would continually declare the preeminence of Christ and all that we say and do. We pray it. In Jesus' name, amen.