The Church of Eleven22 - Wk 3: The Kingdom of God and Power

Episode Date: February 6, 2022

If you want to be great, if you want to be first, then humble yourself like Jesus and serve.

Amen and amen. How you doing this morning, church? Good. Not as nervous this last week. That's good. Hey, grab your Bibles. We're going to be in Matthew chapter 20, and I just got to let you know, man.

I've just got all the feels about you right now. I just really do. I'm overwhelmed with you, people. One, thank you to everybody that came to the book launch party on Tuesday. And those of you that watch online, thanks for all the kind words and all that there. Amen. And then secondly, though, is you people are crazy, man.

You don't act like any other church people in the planet. I just need you to know this. Last week, we're in this series called the Upside Down Kingdom. And last week, I preached on the kingdom of God and money. And that's where y'all are supposed to get mad, okay? That's what usually happens in church. People quit coming and all that. Our attendance was up 18%.

And what you did, after I raked you over the coals about the idolatry of money, I got more emails, more text, more like way to go past a great sermon. And your generosity was overwhelming. You're giving was 53% up over this time last year. It's the biggest January we've ever had. And that wasn't even the point. And the reason I bring that up, first of all, you people are crazy. You're awesome, okay?

You really are. But here's why, because last week I said this. I don't want you to respond generously to a sermon. I want us to live generously in response to the gospel. This week's going to be harder. Because last week, you can just write a check. You can just do a thing about. it and it kind of, it starts to handle that.

But this week, we're going to talk about power. We're going to talk about the kingdom of God and power. We're going to talk about what does it mean to be great? And I'm just going to tell you, greatness is in the air that we breathe. Like we're obsessed with some greatness in America. I mean, right? It's America, right? We better win the dang Olympics.

We better dominate everybody else. We love some great. And, in fact, if you like a band, your favorite album, is their greatest hits? Speaking of greatest hits, 100 years ago, when I was in high school, we used to watch this thing called the NFL's greatest hits. And it was just video after video after video, these ginormous men launching themselves at one another and obliterating each other to the glory of God. Now, every one of those plays they'd put you in prison for today, but back then they didn't care,

all right? We love it. We love greatness. In fact, the Wall Street Journal will write articles like the top 10 greatest companies of all time. In fact, speaking of greatness, think about all of the progress. Think about all of the press this week on the goat that retired. Tom Brady, the greatest of all time. You can hate him or you can love him.

It doesn't matter. He's still the best. And in fact, I got a little inside look at the 9 o'clock service. There's a guy named Josh Wells. He's a covenant member here. Used to play for the jazz. Got traded to the bucks. He plays right tackle, big old giant.

Like if we ever did DBS and we needed a Goliath, we got him. His name's Josh, okay? He's a giant. And he said the first time he ever met Brady. He's walking. It was the first year that Brady. came to the bucks and he's walking his training camp and he's walking into the facility. But Josh, my friend's got his head down and his, is like AirPods in and he's not really

paying attention trying to get his mind right. Here we go. And he gets to the door and he looks up and there's Tom Brady. And Tom Brady goes, hi, I'm Tom. I was like, what did you say? And he was like, I said, hi, I'm Josh. I'd have been like, Tom, what number are you? That's what I'd said maybe. Probably not, all right? But we love some greatness. And in fact, We want to be great. It's like in the air we breathe. Think about this. When you were a little kid and somebody said to you,

what do you want to be when you grow up? Did anybody say, average? No. Regardless of what your answer was, whether it was like nurse or doctor or policeman or astronaut, you wanted to be something great. So let me ask you, do you want to be great? You want to be a great dad, a great husband,

great wife, great boss, great student? Because the reality is, if you don't want to be great, you're going to nail it. I promise you were going to nail it. And what we're going to see here is that Jesus does not rebuke people for wanting to be great. He just takes what it means to be great, and he turns it upside down. So if you've got your Bibles, Matthew chapter 20, we're going to pick it up in verse 17. Now this conversation that we're going to dive into is mostly it begins in verse 20,

but Jesus lays this foundation before he talks about greatness. And I want to make sure you pick up on this foundation or you'll miss the whole thing. In Matthew 2017, the Bible says this, and as Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, you always go up to Jerusalem because it's the highest point in Israel. He took the 12 disciples aside, and on the way he said to them,

see, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the son of man will be delivered over to the chief priest and scribes, and they will condemn him to death and deliver him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified, and he will be raised on the third day. All right, what's that called?

The gospel. I would have appreciated a more confident answer. We've only been doing this for 10 years together. This is the only thing I ever talk about. That's all right. That's why we'll keep going. Okay? It's the gospel, death, and resurrection of Jesus. So what Jesus is going to do before he ever gets into how to be great is he lays this foundation that you better first know the gospel of Jesus Christ. Because if you try to find your identity in anything other than the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ, it will leave you exhausted and disappointed. And a part of the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ is when Jesus pushed up on his nail-pier's feet and says, it is finished. And you believe that it counted for me, the pretending and the performing are over, man. You don't have to pretend anymore. You don't have to act like you got it all together

because, of course, you ain't got it all together. The Son of God had to die on the cross for the forgiveness of my sin. So you don't have to pretend. And let's be honest, church people pretend more than anybody else. Your life can be a train wreck, but you show up in church and people say, how you doing? And what do you say? I'm blessed and highly favored.

Have you seen your Instagram? Your life looks like a Denzel movie, just all of it burning down behind you, and you're just walking slowly out of it, acting like everything's okay. It ain't okay, man. But you don't have to pretend anymore. But don't you have some issues? I have so many issues. The son of God had to die on the cross. My issue is I'm a sinner. But now he loves me. And the performance is over. in the gospel of Jesus Christ, you don't have to perform to earn his love. It's the only offer on the planet where the verdict comes before the performance. And through his son, on the cross, he looks at you, his adopted son or daughter, and says,

behold, my son, my daughter, in whom I am well pleased. You see, we find our identity in the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Amen? All right, you're catching on. Now we get to verse 20. Okay, so there Jesus is. He lays out the gospel.

good news of the gospel. And in less than a verse, these people have gospel amnesia. I mean, they're like, yeah, yeah, okay, enough about you. Let's talk about me for a minute. Matthew 20, 20. Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee, that's James and John, came up to him with her sons and kneeling before him. Underline that, that matters. And kneeling before him, she asked him for something. And he said to her, what you want. You have to understand Greek to get the nuances of the text like I do, okay? But that's what she's saying, man. He knows the heart of what she's about to do, and he says this, what do you want? But don't run by that too quickly. Like, when you want that promotion, when you want that approval, when you want that applause of

man, when you want a couple more of likes on your Facebook page, God's really saying to you, what do you want? What are you looking for? In fact, James, the brother of Jesus is going to say this, that every fight and every argument that you've ever had comes down to this. You didn't get what you want. This is a real question that he is asking her, what do you want? And she said to him, say that these two sons of mine are to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your kingdom. This is a power move by mom for her boys.

You've heard of the helicopter mom, right? The one that just hovers around. and when little Timmy's Skittles starts to melt, she comes in there and just saves them and puts him in the safe place. You've heard of that? This is a lawnmore mom. A lawnmore brings it in here

and just mows over. Come on, boys, I got you, and just makes a path for her boys. This has been going on for 2,000 years. I don't have time to talk about parenting, but that was what was happening. But notice. Notice what she does.

She kneels before him, and she asks him. I see, in verses 20 through the end, I see four ways. that Jesus takes greatness and turns it upside down. Number one is this. If you want to be great, understand that it's your posture and proximity to Jesus that determines greatness,

not your position of power. So though she has bad motives, she has the right posture. She kneels before Jesus and asks in your world when you want something. Do you kneel before Jesus and ask or do you say three of the most dangerous words

on the planet, I got this? She knows she ain't got this. She needs his help. The Bible talks about this all throughout the scriptures. First Peter five, six and seven say it this way. Humble yourself, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time, he may exalt you casting all your anxieties on him because he cares for you. See how he starts that?

Humble yourself. Humility is not an attitude. Humility is not a feeling. Humility is a posture. There are some people that are loud, some people that are quiet. Quiet isn't humble. Humble is when you begin to see yourself, not in light of everybody else. Humble is when you begin to see yourself in light of who God is, and you bow down before him.

You bend your knee before him. It's not a feeling. It is a posture. And he says, humble yourself, because you got two options. You could be humble or you could be humbled. That's what you got. You can bow or you can bow. Because there is a day coming one day where the heavens are going to rip open and

Jesus with like a sword out of his mouth and eyes of fire and tattoos on his quads. Look that up, Baptist. And he's coming back on a horse and everybody's going to bow or are you going to bow. Those are your options. I hear people sometimes say, well, when I see God, I'm going to ask him. You ain't asking him, Jack, bro. You're going to fall on your face and tremble and tremble and tremble. That's what's going to happen.

And if you, it's just true, man. It's just true. And the crazy thing is, is if you bow in this life, he will exalt you in the next. but you exhaust yourself in this life and you will bow and it ain't going to go good for you. Humble yourself and he may, he doesn't know it to you and he may exalt you. In John chapter 15 Jesus says it this way. He says, I am the vine and you are the branches and whoever abides in me, whoever stays close to me, whoever leans into me, honestly the thing that you're doing right now, whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit for a part

from me, you can do nothing. Nothing. You want to be great? You got to know that without him, you can do nothing. Now, if you begin to try to use him for cash and prizes, or use him for your own advancement, we talked about this a couple of weeks ago, particularly if you try to use Jesus for your own political gain, he's not your Lord, he's your lobbyist, but he ain't playing that game, bro. Because the reality is, is that when we lean into him, we get him, and apart from him, we can do nothing. An incredible example of this is this event that happened way back in the book of Genesis,

first book of the Bible. There's this cat named Joseph. And don't think Joseph like Jesus' stepdad, Joseph, this is Old Testament Joseph. If you're older than me, think Technicolor Dreamcoat, that dude, okay? And so this guy had a bunch of brothers, and he was his dad's favorite, but he told him, and so they hated him, and so they beat him down.

They were going to kill him, but his brother Rubin said, let's sell him into slavery, so he gets sold on the auction block, and this dude named Potipher, buys him, and then he's starting to kind of make his way up in Potipers' house and be a big deal until one day Potipers' wife gets the hots for Joseph and tries to make out with him. And so he takes off running, and then she accuses him of coming on to her. So then they put him in prison. And while he's in prison, there's these two dudes that used to work for the Pharaoh,

and they're in prison with him. And they have these crazy dreams. And he says, I can interpret dreams. And he looks at one guy and goes, well, it sucks to be you. You're going to have your eyeballs eating out by birds. And the other guy says, it's cool to be you. you're going to be back with the Pharaoh, but please remember me when you go to the Pharaoh.

Now, that was like 10 chapters of Genesis like that. Okay, very loose interpretation, but it's all there. All right, read it for your show. Now, the one guy that gets repositioned back next to the Pharaoh, the Pharaoh begins to have these crazy dreams, and he brings all of his, like, magic people to tell him the meaning of the dreams and they can't do it. And then the one dude that was in prison with Joseph goes,

you know what, I know a guy. Now, it's been a few years, and I didn't want to bring it up because I was in prison and you put me in prison, so I don't want to talk about it. but I know a guy. His name's Joseph. And so Pharaoh is like, go get him. So they go get Joseph and they clean him up, they cut his hair,

they wash all the prison stank off of him, and they bring him before the Pharaoh. And here's his chance. He's going to stand before the Pharaoh. Now, if you were Joseph's life coach, you would say, this is your chance, bro. This is your chance. This is where you need to differentiate yourself

from all the other competition. This is where you need to show your value. you to the organization. This is where you need to prove yourself to Pharaoh that he's got to have you. And so he stands before Pharaoh. And in Genesis 41, Pharaoh says, all right, Joseph, I've heard it said that you, when you hear a dream, you can interpret. And again, everybody's rooting for Joseph. Come on, Joe, you got this, man. You're good enough, you're smart enough, and dull on it, the Pharaoh's going to like you. And here's how he responds. And Joseph answered the Pharaoh. It is not in me.

God will give Pharaoh a favorable answer. Now, we hear that, and we think, of course he's going to say God stuff, because, you know, it's in the Bible, he's got to say God stuff. Here's what you don't understand. Pharaoh thought he was God. Pharaoh thought he was the Almighty.

And so when everybody heard Joseph not exalt himself and not exalt Pharaoh, but exalt the one true God, I'm telling you, everybody in Pharaoh's cabinet began to hum. No, no, no, no, no. Wow, Pharaoh is going to kill you, Joe. He thinks he's God. And yet what Joseph does is he understands that it's his posture and proximity to the one true God that determines power.

And no man can give it or take it away. And so in essence, what happens is Pharaoh makes him like the senior VP of all of Egypt. Let me ask you this, in your job, tomorrow or at school or at home or wherever you are. Do you trust God? Or do you think, I got this? You want to be great? You ain't got this. It is your posture towards the almighty God.

Jesus says it this way in Matthew 1626. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? In other words, so what if you're the CEO? And you don't know the king. It's going to be a real short run. So how to be great, first and foremost, you've got to understand it is your proximity and posture towards Jesus. And then Jesus says this. All right, she comes and says, hey, can my boy sit at the right and left?

and then he asked this question. Verse 22, Jesus answered, you don't know what you're asking. But notice, he doesn't rebuke her for them wanting to be great. He just turns it upside down. He says, you don't know what you're asking. And then he asks this,

are you able to drink the cup that I am to drink? And they said to him, we are able. And he's basically going, no, you're not. Now, the cup, all throughout the Old Testament, the cup is used as an illustration to represent the wrath of God poured out to judge sinful humanity.

It's like every time we sin, we put a little more wrath in that cup and a little more wrath in that cup and a little more wrath in that cup and then one day at judgment, the wrath is poured out on whoever deserves it and I got bad news for us all, we all deserve it. And so when Jesus is in the Garden of Gassimini,

remember he says, Father, if there be any other way let this cup pass from me, he's talking about suffering the wrath of God. So in essence, what Jesus is saying is, Are you able to suffer what I'm going to suffer? You want to roll with me? You want to follow me? You are walking into suffering.

So, church, you want to be great? Here's the second thing. Understand that you will have to suffer. If you're going to be a Jesus follower, you are signing up for suffering. Now, we're not used to this as Americans, but let me just give you a disclaimer here. If you're not a Christian, let me just warn you about something.

Listen, man, if you want to live an easy life, if you want people to be happy all the time, man don't be a Christian sell ice cream or something okay you ever seen man ever seen anybody angry at the ice cream store even if they're totally upset you can just solve it with one more scoop there you go and everybody's okay but to be a Christian means that we are going to follow in the footsteps of the one that they lied about spit upon crucified and killed and we're saying we're going to follow you the Bible talks about it over and over and over but listen believers we don't follow Jesus because he makes life better. We follow Jesus because he is better than life. Now, I will tell you,

if you do life God's way, it tends to go better. If you're not a liar, if you're not a cheat, if you only sleep with your wife, if you don't steal, if you don't murder, things tend to go better. However, we live in a world that is increasingly more and more hostile to Bible believe in Jesus following people. And the Bible warns us. This whole idea of the peace that Christians, have experienced the last couple hundred years in the West. I'm just telling you it is unique in Christianity. There are men and women right now huddled around like half of a page out of the book of James in North Korea and China, hoping nobody kicks the door and takes them to jail. And yet here we are. But the Bible warns us. Peter says it this way in 1. Peter 412.

Beloved. Just stop right there. That's your identity. Even when your circumstances are crazy and the world hate you because of Jesus. Just beloved, be loved. Because when you know that you're loved by God, that will be the way that you can endure the suffering. Beloved, Peter says, don't be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you as though something strange were happening to you, but rejoice insofar as you share Christ's suffering, that you may also rejoice and be glad when His glory is revealed. If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed because the spirit of glory and of God rest upon you. Trust me, man.

We live in a culture where it's ramping up. When I went to college 100 years ago in 1991, and I walked in my first biology class, and they looked at me and said, you mean to tell me you think that there's a God? And I'm like, yep, I don't think any of this is an accident. I think we were created on purpose by God for sure. Then they just looked at me and said, oh, you're dumb.

Today you walk in as a college freshman, and you say, yeah, yeah, I believe in God, and I believe the truth of this book. They don't just say you're dumb, they say you're evil and hateful. Things are shifting. And so Jesus says, hey, don't be surprised when this world hate you. He says, it hated me, it's going to hate you too. Which I would ask the question, does this world hate you?

And if you're like, no, not at all. It could be because you're indistinguishable from the world. And you're not living in an upside-down kingdom. You're living in this kingdom. And the values and the culture, the, and the culture, that rules the air. You see, the Apostle Paul, fresh off a good beating,

in jail, writes these words in Philippians chapter 3, that I may know him of the power of his resurrection and may share in his sufferings because like him in his death that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.

They would beat Paul and he would say, come on, hit me again because I'm finally counted worthy to suffer for my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. And they said, well, we're going to kill you. And he would say, hey, man, to die his gain.

And they were like, we're going to let you live. He'd go, cool, you better give me a hymnal. I'm going to sing the walls off this jail and lead all your jailers of Christ to live as Christ. What do you do with a man like that? You see, what's crazy is in this upside down kingdom, I'm not saying what we're going through isn't hard, but compared to the kingdom of God. The Bible says that the worst day here is light and momentary compared to the glory

he has in store for us there. And so the Bible says in 1 John 313, don't be surprised, brothers, that the world hate you. In Luke 9, 23, Jesus says it this way. And Jesus said this to all. If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. That doesn't mean you run by the bookstore

and get you a cross necklace and be like, got it, man. It means that you daily deny yourself and follow in the footsteps of Jesus, where he calls you to go, even at great expense to yourself. He says this, Jesus and John 1633, these two sentences don't even make sense together

unless there's an upside-down kingdom. I have said these things to you that you, that in me you may have peace. Like, all right, cool, Jesus. How do we have peace? In this world, you will have tribulation. Wait, what? Well, which one?

Yep. That's it. But take heart, I have overcome the world. He says, because peace won't be found in your external circumstances. Peace is only found in a person, the Prince of Peace, and his name is Jesus. Chuck Swindall, yeah, you can clap, man, but Chuck Swindall says this, let this land on you.

When God wants to accomplish an impossible task, he takes an impossible man and crushes him. Leave room for the crushing. In every great work of God, brokenness and failure are necessary. A.W. Tozer says it this way. it is doubtful whether God can bless a man greatly until he has hurt him deeply. Like, what are you talking about? Here's what he means.

He means that God would love you enough like a good dad to discipline you and prune you and take the truth of His word and the power of His Holy Spirit like a hammer and a chisel and chisel away everything in us that does not look like Jesus. And I don't know about, actually I do know about you

because we're all the same. Oftentimes we don't learn a lot in the blessing, but our ears are wide open in the crushing. Because he loves it. You see, the amount of suffering that you are willing and able to endure is directly proportionate to how effective you can be for the kingdom of God. Let me say that again. The amount of suffering you are willing and able to endure is directly proportionate to

how effective you can be for the kingdom of God. Comfort doesn't do well in the kingdom of God. Look, as a growing church, do you know why most churches stop growing? It's because people get lazy, man. People get comfortable and it hurts too much. and it costs too much. And a group of people gets in the ear of the pastor and it's like, yeah, I remember back when I knew everybody.

You didn't know everybody. You hush, okay? Well, I want my seat. It ain't your seat. And I got to park too far away. And everybody just gets so comfortable and looks at a Christless dying world and looks at the world and says, go to hell. Because I got mine.

That is the opposite of what it means to live in the kingdom of God. And churches, man, pray some goofy prayers. You ever bring around some goofy praying people? Sometimes we pray like idiots, I'm just going to tell you, okay? Get ready to have a meal with that, God, I just thank you for this food, and I ask that it would nourish my body. Well, that's what food does, man. Whether you believe in Jesus or not, food nourishes your body.

You don't pray before you get in the shower and be like, dear Lord, please help this water make me wet. That's just what it does. And the hands that prepared. Okay, and then here's the one. This is a good mission trip prayer. And God just let us be the hands and feet of Jesus. You think you mean handing out peanut butter and jelly sandwiches somewhere, right? What did they do to the hands and feet of Jesus?

And now it spikes through, stabbed a spear through his heart. And yet we are called followers of him. Followers of him. Listen, man, being a Christian doesn't cost you something. It costs you everything. Now, it's worth it, bro. It's worth it. You don't actually make any sacrifices.

It's like sacrificing thirst, sacrificing hunger, sacrificing loneliness. It is better, I promise you. Jim Elliott says it this way. He is no fool that gives up what he can't keep to gain what he cannot lose. And then he gave his life on the mission field for the sake of the gospel. And the people that killed him came to Christ. And you may say, all right, pastor, where do you get this whole idea of the amount of suffering that you're willing and able to endure is directly proportionate to how effective you can be for the kingdom?

I don't know. Everybody in the Bible? Have you read these events? Moses? He's on the run from Pharaoh. God's trying to kill him. And then he's on the run again because Pharaoh's trying to kill him. And then finally, when he crosses over the Red Sea, you would think he would think, oh, finally, this is good.

And then he leads God peoples towards the promised land, but God leads him into the desert, and the people won't do anything but complain and grumble. Because church folk were different then. And then what does God do at the end? God brings them up on a mountain and shows him all of the promised land. And I'm sure Moses is like, finally, I've given my whole life to this. And God's like, nope, you're dead. You're not going.

Joshua, you're up. My friend, man. And then Joshua's whole ministry was a war. Or go, David, everybody loves him, King David. We're going to spend all summer studying the Psalms. David, you think you're a boss is bad. David had a boss that literally threw spears at him. And all he did is just dodge.

Never threw him back. His kid turns against him. He went through some serious suffering. Every, every disciple, all 12, of the disciples, one hung himself, they replaced them. All of them were martyred, not for some belief for what they had seen and heard. The ultimate example is Jesus, man. Jesus endured immense, eternal, undescribable suffering

so that he could lead us all to the kingdom of God. You want to be great? You better make room for the suffering. verse 23 Jesus he's going to keep going he said to them you shall drink my cup both the guys both the guys standing there they would both give their life for the sake of the gospel

they were both marty he said you will drink my cup but to sit at my right hand and my left is not mine to grant but it is for those for whom it has been prepared by my father now check this out okay Jesus the second person of the Trinity

God the son co-eternal with God the Father and God the Spirit, who spoke everything into existence, who rules over all things, who is before all things. Everything that is was created by Him for Him, through Him, and to Him, and it is by the power of Christ that he holds all things together in this moment. He's the Alpha of the Omega, the beginning and the end. He is the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, and will rule and reign forever. And when this mama says, hey, can my boys be senior VP right and left of Jesus Incorporated?

He goes, that's above my pay grade. What? He goes, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I am submitted to the will of my father. You want to be great? Here's number three. Learn how to submit to authority. Man, in our culture, authority is a bad word. And the Bible, authority is the way by which God works in this world.

You see, Paul will say it this way in Philippians chapter two. One of my favorite chapters in the Bible. I have about 14, but whatever. Right now, this is right up there. Paul says this, listen to these words, do nothing from selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility, count others as more significant than yourself. Did you know, if you're a follower of Jesus Christ, you were supposed to submit to other people and treat other people as if they are more important than you?

And you're like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Are they more important? It's not what he said, man. Okay? We're all image bearers of Jesus, no problem. However, every time you get eyeball to eyeball with somebody, we're supposed to treat them like they're a bigger deal than we are. Listen, we have practice.

You know how to do this. You ever been to a wedding? Yes. You treat the bride like, it's all about her. Because that way, it's all about her. It doesn't bother you. You've never been like, well, hey, that's not fair. Get out of here.

I want some pictures of me. Give me a gift. You know, you wouldn't do that. You'd be dumb. Don't do that. And the angels, look at us as Jesus' followers. And whenever we look down our nose at somebody, they're like, whoa, whoa, that's dumb.

What are you doing? Treat others as if they are more important to you. So think about this. Think about the person that you. respect the most on the planet. Think about the person that if they came to your house, you'd be like, oh, I can't believe it. How would you treat that person? The Bible says you should treat the people that live at your house that way. Right? So you're sitting in your office and you're trying to do some work and then your kid keeps coming in. You're like,

shut up, get out of here. I told you. What did you go to school, something? What if I came to your house? If I just rolled up in your office and said, hey, I thought I'd pray for you. You wouldn't be like, shut up, Pastor Jobby, get out of here, you stupid, go to church or something. Nah, man. That's how we're supposed to treat people. That's how we're supposed to treat people. And then here's the, he holds up Christ as the example. He says, let each of you look not only at his own interests, but also the interest of others,

and have this mind among yourself, which is yours in Christ Jesus. The NIV says, your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus. Who, though he was in the life. form of God did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself. Jesus, big deal. What did he do? He emptied himself. Why is it supported?

Because you and I, not that big a deal, and we're full of ourselves. And you're like, I ain't full of myself. Have you seen your Instagram? You're full of yourself. Me too, man. And yet what Christ does, you want to be great, emptied himself by taking the form of a servant. We'll come back to that.

Being born in the likeness of men and being found in human form. He humbled himself by becoming obedient to the, the point of death, even death on a cross. So let me ask you this. Who's an authority over you? We all live under authority. I'm the lead pastor here. Almost every room I'm in, I'm the boss here at church only, okay? Changes quickly when I get home, but you understand what I'm saying. But I'm under the authority of the elders of this church. We are all under authority. Whose authority are you under? Your mom and dads, your teachers, your boss, whatever, okay? We are all under authority. We need to learn to live under authority. Here's what the person in authority over

you needs from you. They need two things. One, they need to believe that you believe that they have what it takes. And number two, they need to believe that you were on their team. And if you don't believe those things, go get you another job. Here's what's crazy. When you believe those things, when your boss actually thinks that you think they have what it takes and they know that you were on their team, then they are open to hear all of your wonderful ideas about how they could do a better boss. and even if they won't invite that kind of comment from you, shut your mouth. That's it.

You want to change your workplace? Shut up. And here's what I mean. Philippians 2.14, he keeps going and he says this. Paul says, do everything without complaining or arguing. To which you might say, well, whoa, but pastor, my boss is a jerk. Okay, cool. Let's see if that falls under the everything category.

Yeah, it does. So shut up. That's what it means. And then there's a promise to it. This is what's crazy, man. You want to make a difference in your office. You don't have to call down fire from heaven like Elijah does on Mount Carmel. Here's what you got to do is when everybody gets together and be like,

can you believe he said this? And she said in the new operating system and what say you? And you don't complain? And you don't argue the Bible says that you will shine like stars in a crooked and depraved generation. That people will look at you and be like, what's wrong with you? Okay, and by the way, the Greek word for argue and complain is Twitter. Did you know that? That's for free.

So, let me ask you this. Why would you ever expect God to give you authority if you have not learned how to live under authority? You are just trying to overthrow God. I could tell you where I learned this, man. When we planted the Church of 1122, I was a youth pastor at Beach United Methodist Church. I am not a Methodist, though I was working at a Methodist. church. Pastor Jerry was the authority over me and all of the Methodist ecclesiology that I don't even agree with, but I didn't mind it when I was getting the paycheck from them. And then one day, Pastor Jerry

comes to me and says, we think that God is calling us to launch you and you should plan a church and be the senior pastor. And I thought, oh, no. Okay. You see, because for years, man, it would be really easy to sit in the back of a room as a youth pastor and just be, sit there like Simon Cowell. I don't think I'd sing this song. I don't think I'd do it that way. If I was in charge, and then one day the Lord went, all right, Scooter, why don't you give it a run? To which I had to call every pastor I've ever worked for him. Be like, hey, I'm going to need to say I'm sorry, right? And so, here's what we did, though.

I was eating breakfast with a seasoned pastor, and he said this about us launching out. He said, the way you leave this season of your life will determine how you walk into the next. You honor the authority over you, and maybe God will honor you when you are in authority. And so it's the first time I think in church history that a United Methodist Church launched a non-denominational reformed Acts 29 church. And I believe, I believe that a huge part of the blessing of God on this place is because we did it with the blessing of one of his churches under the authority that he has put us under. Let me ask you this. When did we trade in honor and respect for criticism and cynicism? it's not working man why should we honor those in authority over us do you realize how christ honored you

you think he's got a couple things that he could be aggravated about you for the list is long and yet he steps off of his throne and he comes on a rescue mission and gives his life to rescue us you want to be great learn how to live under submission then verse 24 and when the 10 hurt it. So the other disciples hear it. Here are the two guys getting their mom to go talk to Jesus. They were indignant at the two brothers. They're like, you sit your mom? Are you serious? But Jesus called them to him and said, you know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them and their great ones exercise authority over them. It shall not be so among you. Is it so among you? Like, if you're a boss, if you're a manager,

if you look around and you realize, all right, I'm the leader here. And some of you, some of you, it's easy because you are. You're the CEO, you got a team that reports to you, or you're the dad, or whatever. Some of you think, well, I'm never in charge of anything. Okay, if you find yourself in the living room and you have the remote, do you lead like a Gentile? And when it says Gentile, it doesn't mean non-Jewish. What he's saying here is, do you lead, do you manage like you don't even believe in God? Do you act like an atheist when God gives you some responsibility?

it shall not be so among you. Is it so among you? I dare you to ask this question, Dad, I dare you to ask this question to your kids. Husband, I dare you to ask this question to your wife. Boss, I dare you to ask this question to the people you work with. What does it like to be on the other side of me? Like when you walk into the room, does peace walk in with you?

Or does everybody get uptight? Jesus says, it shall not be so. among you. There's this famous pastor in Atlanta, Georgia, named Andy Stanley. Maybe you've heard of them. And I heard this at a conference one time, and I can't figure out a better way to say it

because it rhymes. He's like the Dr. Seuss of preaching. It's incredible. All right, here's what he says. What do you do when it dawns on you that you're the most powerful person in the room? What do you do? When it dawns on you that you're the most powerful person

in the room. Do you flex? Do you make sure everybody knows it? or do you serve? This is what Jesus is going to do. That Jesus served. By the way, you want to be a great leader? Cool, man, lead.

Husbands, do you want to be a great leader in your home? You should. Why don't you start this way? What about we be the lead repenters? What about we start by being the lead apologizers? I am so sorry. I'm so sorry. The Bible says, careless words stab like a sword,

and I was careless with my words, and I am so sorry. Hey, I am so sorry, my insecurities got all crazy, and I thought I'm just going to take control of this. Because when Jesus, John chapter 13, we'll go back there in a minute. But when Jesus looks around, he's about to do the Last Supper, and the Bible says he knows all authority in heaven and earth has been given unto him, and he shows the disciples the full extent of his love. And you know what he does? He washes their feet. Here's what Jesus says. but whoever would be great among you must be your servant,

and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, your doulas. You see, what Jesus is saying is serving is not a thing we do. Servant is who we are. You want to be great? Serve. Because I'll tell you, man, if service is beneath you, then leadership is beyond you. The way Jesus does it.

There's a guy at our church named Charles Martin. We told his story last week. He's a really big deal. He's an author. multiple New York Times bestsellers. He helped me write my book. So I'm hoping it happens again, praise God. And years ago, we're really good friends now.

Years ago, he said, hey, man, what can I do? Can I do something around the church? And I don't know what he necessarily had in mind because anybody can just sign up to serve. I don't know if he was like, I mean, this dude has walked on red carpets in L.A. when they make his books into movies, okay? And he said, what can I do? And I very, I was just poking at him because he's my friend.

And I said, hey, man, we always need the trash taken out. He didn't respond. A couple weeks later, I'm in my truck, about to leave after church, and there's Charles Martin, not walking the ready of carpet, but with a bag of trash, and he's been doing it for years and years and years and years. You see, if serving is beneath you, then leadership is beyond you. And here's what's crazy in our world. If you lead anything, you've had some class or heard some TED talk on servant leadership, right? All right, here's what we do.

Here's how sick we are. As Jesus says, if you want to be great, be a servant. You're like, cool, I'm going to be a servant. And people say, tell me about your leader. and you're like, I'm a servant leader. Hold on, servant's a noun. And we make it an adjective to describe the kind of leader I am. And Jesus is like, whoa, whoa, I didn't tell you to be a leader.

No, no, no, no, no, no. I'm a servant leader. He goes, no, no, no, no, no, I didn't tell you to be a leader. I told you to be a servant. See the difference? You see, everybody wants to be a servant until you're treated like one. And Jesus says, you want to be great? Serve.

The key question is this. Do you see yourself as a leader who serves or a servant that maybe by God's grace gets to lead? And this was easy, man. You could do something about this one right now. You can serve. You can serve. If you're not serving, you can serve here at the church. And I'm going to make it super easy.

And I'm not even going to press it hard because if I do, there won't be anybody in the city. If you respond like you did last week, there'll be nobody here to listen. Everybody will be serving, okay? But if you text the word serve to 44, 1122, then somebody will text you back and get you involved. You can serve. You can hold babies and you can hold a door. And you might be like, well, I'm not good at it. We don't care.

We don't care. There's some things that you are qualified. If you can fog a mirror, you're qualified to serve in many areas, okay, for the kingdom of God. Trust me, you may be the lead pastor of the whole thing. You never know, okay? So, because here's the deal, man. Here's the deal. See, my job as the pastor, pastor and shepherd me the same thing.

They're the same word in the New Testament. My job as the pastor is I should be the chief servant. Your job is not to serve me and my vision for what I think God. has called us to do, it's actually the exact opposite. That what I'm supposed to do as a pastor is no, protect, feed, love, God, serve God sheep. In fact, God never gives churches to pastors. That's the way most people think about it now. God gives pastors to serve churches.

And it's one of my greatest honors to get to do that, to get to serve this body. And years ago, like 2003, 4, somewhere in there, we just moved to town. I was the youth pastor at Beach. And it was Friday, and it was supposed to be my day off, and I'm hanging out at the house, and we lived right over and right behind Angie Sub, this little apartment. No kids yet, and Gretchen was at work.

She was a physical therapist back then before she came home when we had kids, and I'm watching, speaking of great, the greatest movie of all time. Braveheart, okay? It's not even up for a debate. If you don't think I'm right, it's because you're wrong, but that's fine, man.

Okay, you can be wrong. I mean, that's why we're here today because of all the wrong that's going on. Okay, so I'm watching Braveheart, and I start to get into it, and I'm there by myself, and so I go and I get my sword. You don't have a sword? I'm a Christian, so you got to have a sword.

Ephesians 2 says, take up the sword. I got one. You understand? It's talking about the Bible. But whatever, I got a real sword. And so there I am, and I don't have a kilt, but I got some plaid boxers. So there I go.

I get my kilt on. Just thinking about that for a minute. Not too much. It's just right. And, man, I'm watching the scene where he paints his face, and he's riding back up and down on the horse, and he's giving the speech, and they may take away our lives, but they'll never take our friends.

And I am soared in the sky ready to join the great William Wallace and the freedom of the Scots, which are my people, and then the door opens. And there's my wife. She walks in. She's like, what are you doing? Freedom! I was like, I'm watching Braveheart. Now, I'll tell you a little bit about how messed up I am.

I'm laying in bed that night. and I'm, and I'm, I'm like 31 or something like that, maybe 32, and I'm all in my mind about what am I doing in my life. And I'm thinking about how God used this man named William Wallace to free the Scots and I think I'm a youth pastor with 100, 200 kids, whatever it is. And William Wallace is battling the English for the freedom of Scotland. And I'm at church playing Chubby Bunny. For those of you that were spared of youth group in the 90s. in order to make disciples we used to put marshmallows in kids' mouth

and then they'd say chubby bunny and when you get about nine or ten in it's like heavy bun and whoever's last man standing wins and then they'd usually choke and die so you can't play it anymore that's how good that's why kids used to be smarter

because the dumb ones, they're gone they couldn't make it all right so so I'm up at night I am I'm laying in the bed and if you've been or if you really know me you know I have the spiritual gift of sleep man I could probably just lay right here and just go to sleep right now.

I came and I could sleep like that. I usually fall asleep on the way to the pillow. It's just a gift. It really is. Gretchen does not share my gift. The stars have to align and an angel has to flutter into our room and spray lavender. Everything has to be just right. And every time I exhale, it wakes her up.

And she's like, how do you sleep so easy? And I'm like, I don't know, but watch. Boom, I can go right back. Okay. But there's a couple times every decade or so where I can't go to sleep. So she rolls over and she sees that I'm just wide awake. She's like, what's going on? I begin to share this conversation.

Like, what am I doing in my life, man? What am I doing my life? I mean, here's a man that gave his life. There's 500 years later, people are still talk about him. You know, what a big deal. And all I'm doing is I'm a youth pastor at this church. What am I doing in my life? And through this conversation, the Lord just downloaded this thing on me that I don't even know if I can describe it right.

But he made it so clear to me. He said, Jobie, William Wallace and all the things that he did in this kingdom, basically what they were fighting over are lines on a temporary map. And I'm using you to fight for the hearts and souls of one more generation right here in Jacksonville. Don't take your eyes off of it, okay? And I think if I didn't see that then, I don't think I'd be standing here with you now. You want to be great? you have no idea how God could use you. Trust me.

And in the kingdom of God, what feels like just a small step of obedience may be the very thing that he uses to spark a revival. You don't know. So Jesus, he looks at these disciples. He does not rebuke them for wanting to be great. He just completely turns it upside down

and he starts with the gospel and then here's how he ends. He said, even as the son of man came not to be served but to serve and to give his life a ransom for many. Church, if you want to be great, if you want to be first, then humble yourself like Jesus and serve. Now, this week I thought about, or for months I thought about,

I want to give you an example of somebody that's like this. And the problem with giving somebody like the humility badge is the moment they wear it, you've got to take it back. You know what I'm saying? And so I want to share a story with you about a guy that you've never heard of before. And yet you sit in the blessing that God used this man for. So take just a second and check this out.

Pastor Brid, I want to spend a couple of minutes with you. As I've been covering in the sermon in this upside down kingdom series, Jesus takes the idea of power and turns it upside down. And part of the reason I wanted to talk to you is not really to talk about you, but to talk about your dad. And the reason why is years ago, I was leaving your dad's funeral, which you and your brother did. And I called Gretchen on the way home, and I said, babe, I know what it means to be a great pastor. And she says, what are you talking about?

And I just said, well, I just heard about Billy Britt. So I want to talk to you a little bit about your dad, Billy Britt. part of what it means to be great is about proximity to Jesus and your posture towards him. So talk to me about your dad's walk with the Lord. He was a great man. He's a great dad, and he loved Jesus. My dad got saved when he was 18 years old. At the exact same time, it was called to be a pastor.

From the day my dad got saved when he was 18 years old to the day that he died, He never missed a quiet time or a time in the word ever. Not one day went by that he didn't read the Bible. His posture toward Jesus was absolute and total surrender, and it poured into every part of his life. So when this mom comes to Jesus, she asks if her sons can sit at the right and left hand of Jesus. And Jesus basically is asking,

are you sure? Are you sure? Can you drink of the cup that I'm going to drink? And he's talking about the cup of suffering. So talk to me about how your dad, endured suffering. When I was 12, my mother, my dad's high school sweetheart, they'd been married for about 20 years.

She got diagnosed with cancer, colon cancer. It was rough, dude. It was rough. My dad suffered incredibly faithfully alongside of my mom. He loved her so well, man. I mean, even in the last, even the last days, she was so sick. She could get out of bed, you know?

She couldn't talk anymore, and he would sit by her bed, and he would just hold the word in her hand. Just believe in that God could do anything, you know. After she died in January of 96, she passed away, and I remember being in the funeral home, he puts his hand on me, and he says, son, I know this is heart, but God is good. I never forgot that. And he lived his life that is hard.

And God is good. After struggling through depression for years, they finally gave him a diagnosis, which is Parkinson's. And it turned out that Parkinson's was actually a really, a far more rare brain disease called PSP. I remember one of the last conversations I ever had with him, I said, Dad, help me understand. How are you okay?

He just looked at me and said, I think I finally learned what Paul meant when he said, I'm to be content in all things. I think he died content in Christ Jesus, knowing that to live is Christ and to die as gain. When Jesus gets this request that this mother's,

son stood at the right and left, the almighty omnipotent one who spoke everything into existence says, that's not for me to decide, but for my father. So Jesus knew what it was to be submitted to authority. How did you see your dad demonstrate greatness by submission to authority? So my dad was a lead pastor in the early onset of his ministry. And through that, God made it known to him that where he wanted my dad to focus his ministry was on Christian education, discipleship, Sunday school groups, those kind of environments for people to deepen their relationship with Jesus. And so he connected with another man who was a lead pastor, and they partnered up together, and he joyfully chose to submit himself to the lead pastor and the other leaders of that

church elder, the other elders of that church. And never, one time complained, never one time dishonored. Submission to authority for him was the opportunity to do what the Bible said. And for him, that's really what he wanted, was to just do what the Bible said. And so that's how he walked it out. So I didn't know your dad very well. I think I met him a couple few times, you know. And though I was not directly impacted, like I never said. one of his Bible studies or heard one of his sermons, but one of the things I am most appreciative about the life and the ministry and the legacy

and the greatness of Billy Britt. It's you. I appreciate you. I love you. I'm glad we get to do this together. And I hope and pray that you and I will be great pastors. Amen. And so Ryan has a brother. They're both pastors.

and though most of you have never heard of Billy Britt today, tens of thousands of people will be blessed by the legacy and ministry of God named Billy Britt. You ever consider maybe the great thing God wants to do in you, isn't in what you do, but who you raise? You see, I got a warning for us, 1122. We as a church are big, we are known, and we are sinners. It's a dangerous combination. And the only cure is the gospel.

If you would, if you would grab the elements and go ahead and start trying to get into the top, it's going to be a struggle. On the night, Jesus was betrayed and he gathers together his disciples. They're going to celebrate the Passover. These boys have done this every year of their life. And Jesus has rabbi words that he's supposed to say,

and he's supposed to talk about Moses and the Exodus. Because that's what the Passover was. The Passover was to look back over your shoulder at the faithfulness of God that God set his people free from the bondage of Pharaoh. And that a bunch of plagues came, and the 10th plague, there was an angel of death

coming through and the firstborn was going to be taken. But God said to Moses, go and shed the blood of a perfect spotless lamb and put it on the doorpost of the house. And whoever has that, the angel of death will pass over. So Jesus is sitting at the table. And knowing all authority in heaven, and earth had been given unto him, the Bible says that he shows the disciples the full extent of his love.

And he doesn't preach. And he doesn't sing a song. He doesn't do a miracle. He washes, he dresses himself as a servant and he washes his disciples' feet. And then he sits down at the table and he says, hey, you know this lamb that we've been talking about for the last couple thousand years? He's right here at the table. And he says, this is my body broken for you. the disciples had no idea what he's talking about. It would become crystal clear the next day when the wrath of God was poured out on Jesus at the cross and he was broken for us.

And that God made him who was without sin to be sin for us, that we would be made the righteousness of God. And when we partake in holy communion, may we never forget it. And so Jesus says, so as often as you eat of the bread, you do so in remembrance of me. And then later, he holds up the cup.

The disciples have no idea what he's going to say now. And he holds up the cup and he says, this is my blood. That blood of the lamb, I'm going to shed my blood. And if it's over the doorpost of your heart, the angel of death will pass over you. And you will be adopted, invited into the kingdom of God. He says, this is the new covenant. Covenant and testament mean the same thing. The old covenant or the Old Testament, the Bible says that most.

Jesus gave us the law, but Jesus gave us grace because the new covenant, the New Testament, is that we are saved by grace, that the verdict comes before the performance. It's not what you can do for him. It's what he has already done for you at the cross, that it is finished, that the payment for your sin has been paid for. And beyond that, God didn't just forgive you and say good luck. God forgave you and then adopted you as his very own, changed your name, deposited the Spirit of God in you and promises one day to come back and get us and take us home. And he says, and often as you drink of this, you do so in remembrance of me. Later in the New Testament, the Bible says, as often as the early church would gather and celebrate the gospel via the elements of the Lord's supper, that when they would close, they would pray and they would confess.

And they wouldn't just confess that they had sin. They would confess that Jesus had died for their sins. That's better. and that they would sing, that they would sing Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. And so we are going to respond like we always do. And I'm going to invite you to come and pray. Because we need more than just an attitude of judgment to be great like Jesus said to be great. And I want us all to be great the way Jesus said to be great.

But we need the power and presence of the Holy Spirit to help us do that. And we're going to sing together. We're going to sing a brand new song called New Wine. And it talks about crushing. And it's talking about crushing the grapes. you make wine. It's talking about the crushing of Jesus who poured out his blood for us, and it talks about crushing us so that we could be made into whatever he wants us to be. Would you please stand and let me pray for you?

A good and gracious Heavenly Father, Lord, we love you more than anything because Jesus came on a rescue mission for us. Lord, I pray, Spirit of God, that you would wake us up to this kingdom that tries to drag us in to our own selfishness, our own selfishness, our own soul. self-centeredness, our own self-worth. And Lord, I pray that you would give us eyes to see that we are sons and daughters of the Most High King, purchased by the blood of Jesus, and we could walk in that kind of freedom. Lord, I pray that there would be bosses and dads and husbands and moms that are leaders this week, lead repenters, lead apologizers, lead forgivers. And Lord, I pray that you would shape us and you would mold us into whatever you need for us to be for your glory.

We pray it all in Jesus' name. Amen. So, church, we're going to respond. We're going to bring our first and best. We're going to sing this new song, and we're going to pray. Let's respond.