0:01

Hi everybody, welcome to your move where we

0:03

help you make better decisions and live with

0:05

fewer regrets. I'm Andy Stanley and I'll be

0:08

your guide. Now you have probably noticed that

0:10

people with power usually leverage that power to

0:12

keep it and to, well, to get more

0:14

of it, which is unfortunate because, well, imagine

0:16

what our communities, our families, our world would

0:19

look like if we all used our influence

0:21

to benefit the people around us instead of,

0:24

well, instead of just the person in the mirror.

0:27

Somebody's got to go first. Why not you? Why

0:29

not me stick around and we'll talk about what that

0:31

might look like right here on your move. So

0:37

we've all had embarrassing moments. There's some of our

0:39

favorite stories. When people start talking about their embarrassing

0:41

moment, you're like, oh yeah. And then everybody ups

0:44

the other person. But at the same time, there

0:46

are some embarrassing moments that aren't funny and they'll

0:48

never be funny and they make your stomach hurt

0:50

to talk about. And

0:53

Sandra's not here today. She's

0:56

watching. And I'm

0:58

not going to share it, sweetheart. But anyway,

1:00

she has like this great embarrassing

1:02

moment story. The point

1:04

is we all have those moments that

1:07

it's just the thought of it.

1:09

You know, you almost want to freeze up. It was just so embarrassing.

1:11

Now, a really good pastor or speaker at this point

1:14

in the message would say, so let me tell you

1:16

about one of mine, but I'm neither that good nor

1:18

that secure. So I'm not going to tell you one

1:20

of mine. But see, you thought that's where it's going

1:22

because a really good communicator would sort of set it

1:24

up most embarrassing moment than tell one of his or

1:26

her own. But I'm not. Instead, I

1:29

want to tell you about the most

1:31

embarrassing moment for two of Jesus apostles.

1:36

And when it happened, they weren't embarrassed

1:38

in the moment, but they were embarrassed in

1:40

the moments that followed. And I think one of them

1:42

in particular was embarrassed for the rest of, in

1:44

fact, both of them were probably embarrassed for the rest

1:47

of their life. It's just that one lived a

1:49

lot longer than the other. And I think James

1:51

and John, they were brothers and they're the ones that

1:53

had this most embarrassing moment. And

1:56

I'm glad that Matthew and Mark included this in the

1:58

account of the life of Jesus. because

2:00

it sets us up for what

2:02

I think, and I hope you'll stick around for this, what

2:05

I think is probably the most inspiring,

2:08

catalytic, clarifying statement

2:10

that ever came from the

2:13

lips of Jesus. A statement

2:15

that ended up turning his apostles

2:17

entire value system upside down, and

2:19

a statement that if the modern church would take

2:21

it to heart, if the modern church, if we

2:23

would just take it to heart, this one statement

2:25

by Jesus, for just three months or six months,

2:28

so much would change in our communities,

2:30

and so much would change in our

2:32

families, and before I point my finger

2:34

too much at you, honestly, if people

2:36

who do what I do, if pastors

2:39

would allow this to inform their behavior,

2:41

and inform their responses, and inform their

2:43

reactions, and inform the way that

2:45

they pastor their churches, so

2:48

much would be different. In fact, real quick, if

2:50

you're not a Christian, I really, really hope you'll

2:52

stick with this through this message. If you're not

2:54

a Christian, honestly, it's the church's failure to

2:57

embrace this one statement that may explain

2:59

why you're not a Christian, or it

3:01

may explain why you're not a Christian

3:03

anymore, why you left the faith, because

3:05

honestly, this statement

3:07

by Jesus actually reflects a

3:10

value, it reflects something that if you're

3:12

not a Christian, you should hold us

3:14

accountable to, but in some

3:16

ways, us Christians oftentimes don't hold

3:19

ourselves accountable to this incredible statement.

3:21

If this, and I'm gonna give it

3:24

to you, I promise, that this statement

3:26

characterized Jesus' people the

3:28

way it characterized Jesus. Honestly,

3:32

our community, the world, would be a

3:35

different place. Today, if you've

3:38

been tracking along with us, we're wrapping up

3:40

this four-part series entitled, Icon, the Empowering Invitation

3:42

of the Cross, and as you know, before

3:44

you tuned in, or before you got here,

3:46

the cross is the icon for Christianity, and

3:49

for many Christians, it simply represents a way

3:52

of believing, and as we've said throughout

3:54

this series, in the first century, and

3:56

hopefully for some of us in the 21st

3:58

century, it actually... or

4:00

as a way of living is to

4:02

reflect or inform a lifestyle. In

4:05

the first century, the reason it was

4:07

easy for them or easier for them

4:09

to get this is they'd actually seen

4:11

a cross used. They knew that it

4:13

was an invitation to an alternative way

4:16

of life, alternative but not intuitive. To

4:18

those on the outside, this way of life looks

4:21

foolish. It looks crazy, as we said last time.

4:23

It even looks a little bit lazy. But

4:25

in the first century, they embraced it anyway, and

4:27

it's why we're here today. But the

4:30

challenge of the invitation of the cross,

4:32

it's so counter-cultural, worse than that, it's

4:34

so counter-natural. It runs against the grain

4:37

of my life, of my selfishness, of

4:39

my self-centeredness, of what I want for

4:41

me the way I naturally think.

4:44

It's an invitation to live for the

4:46

approval of one rather

4:48

than every one. So,

4:51

as we wrap up this series, I

4:54

do wanna end and land with this,

4:56

what I consider this most startling, clarifying,

4:58

catalytic statement by Jesus. That

5:01

if this ever went from here to here, I

5:04

would be more changed. I would be more conformed

5:06

for you. If everyone from here to here, for

5:08

the church in general, for anybody who claims the

5:10

name of Jesus, this ever went from here to

5:13

here, and I say here, because if you're a

5:15

Christian, you read this, and you believe Jesus said

5:17

it, and you believe it's true. But

5:19

if this ever informs our

5:21

actions and our lifestyle consistently,

5:24

things change.

5:28

So here's what happened. This may be new to you, I don't know, even

5:30

if you grew up in church. So in this part

5:32

of the story of Jesus, he has just

5:34

finished mission number one. Jesus didn't have one

5:37

mission, he had two missions. And we celebrate

5:39

and sing about the second mission, but we

5:41

overlook the first mission, but we talk about

5:43

it a lot here. Mission number one for

5:46

Jesus was to live his life and teach

5:48

in such a way that people understood what

5:50

his father was like. He came to reveal

5:53

the father. And so in this part of the

5:55

story, he's just wrapped that up. Some of you

5:57

are familiar with what's called sometimes the high

5:59

priestly. It's a long prayer that John recorded

6:02

for us. And in this prayer,

6:04

it's toward the end of Jesus' ministry, Jesus is

6:06

praying to his heavenly Father, and he

6:08

makes this statement. I memorized this verse many years ago in

6:10

a translation we don't use a lot anymore. He said this,

6:12

I love this, he said, I glorified past

6:14

tense. I

6:17

have glorified you on the earth, having

6:19

accomplished the work that you have given me

6:22

to do. In

6:24

other words, mission accomplished, to

6:27

which we would read that or hear that and say, wait a

6:29

minute, you haven't accomplished your mission yet. You're still on planet earth

6:31

and you're praying to your heavenly Father. Your mission was to die

6:33

for the sins of the world. Jesus is like, you know, I

6:35

can do more than one thing at a time. Okay,

6:38

I'm here to reveal the Father and I'm done with mission number

6:40

one. I

6:42

glorified or I manifested, I revealed, I

6:44

explained you to people on planet earth, I

6:46

glorified you on the earth, having accomplished the

6:48

work or having accomplished the mission, put a check

6:51

in the box that you have given me to do. And

6:56

now in our storyline, he's about to step into the second

6:58

part of his mission, which was to pay for the sins

7:00

of the world. This is the part

7:02

we sing about and celebrate all the time. So as we

7:04

talked about a little bit last time, so

7:08

now he's with his disciples and he's moving to Jerusalem.

7:10

He's not marching on Jerusalem as we talked about, he's

7:13

marching to it and his disciples are so excited because

7:17

they're thinking, this is it. This is what we've

7:19

been waiting for. He's finally going to throw off

7:21

his rabbinic robe and proclaim himself Messiah and King

7:24

and they cannot wait to get to Jerusalem and

7:27

they can't wait to get to Jerusalem for

7:30

all the wrong reasons. They're thinking Old

7:32

Testament Jericho, like we're going

7:34

to get there and we're going to take the city,

7:36

we're going to conquer the city, we're going to exploit

7:38

the city. Our rabbi is going

7:40

to be the king and we're his followers.

7:42

So here's where the story picks up. The

7:45

text says, Mark tells us who got his information from Peter

7:48

who was there for all of this. They were on

7:51

their way to Jerusalem. I love this

7:53

statement. It's very unique in the New

7:55

Testament. With Jesus leading the way. So

7:57

you get this picture, there's the 12.

7:59

And then there's people who

8:02

just there's like the general disciples who

8:04

kind of went everywhere Jesus went But

8:06

in this particular case Jesus is out

8:08

front and it sort of implies that

8:10

he's walking a little faster than normal

8:12

And they're having to keep up like

8:14

he can't wait to get to Jerusalem,

8:16

but you got to picture this This is right

8:18

before Passover. So they're not the only ones

8:20

on the road. There are hundreds

8:23

eventually there will be Thousands

8:25

and thousands and thousands of pilgrims Making

8:27

their way all the way down from Galilee and

8:30

the different regions to the city of Jerusalem Because

8:33

it was a big deal to celebrate Passover

8:35

in the city of Jerusalem. So the roads

8:37

are crowded. Jesus is out front They're trying

8:39

to keep up and He

8:42

knows he there's not a mystery to

8:44

him. He knows when they get to Jerusalem It's

8:46

not gonna go well with him and he knows

8:49

Disciples are a little too excited.

8:52

So he turns around he says, okay guys Let's take

8:54

a break and he pulls them all off the road

8:56

far enough away from the crowd where they won't be

8:58

disturbed And here's what the text says.

9:00

He says he took mark says he took the 12

9:03

aside and he told them What

9:05

was gonna happen to him? He's like guys.

9:07

Okay, you think this is gonna be like a big party.

9:09

It's gonna be horrible I want to I

9:11

want I want to kind of set your expectations and

9:13

then he goes into all this detail You should read

9:16

it for yourself. He says I'm gonna be arrested. I'm

9:18

gonna be spit on I'm

9:20

gonna be screamed at I'm gonna be

9:23

Mischaracterized I'm gonna be lied about

9:26

I'm going to be flogged and

9:29

then they're gonna kill me Do

9:32

it y'all still want to go they

9:34

cannot hear this I mean, this isn't

9:36

the first time he's he's warned them and

9:39

then they get up they get back on

9:41

the road Jesus is leading the charge and

9:44

this is when James and John have their

9:46

most embarrassing moment because they kind of hustle

9:48

up ahead of the other guys and they

9:50

come up beside Jesus and The

9:53

text says like right then right

9:55

after he's finished explaining all this horrible

9:57

stuff. That's about happened to him the

9:59

text Then James

10:01

and John, the sons of Zebedee

10:03

came to him. As soon

10:05

as Jesus, read it for yourself, as soon as

10:08

Jesus finishes telling them all this horrible stuff, they

10:10

come up beside Jesus. And here's what

10:12

they say. This is their most embarrassing moment

10:14

later when all this kind of came

10:16

together. Teacher, they said, we

10:19

want you to do for us whatever we ask. Okay,

10:22

every parent understands this question. You've

10:24

got it from your kids at some point. Like,

10:26

daddy, I need you to buy me the old,

10:28

and just give me a blanket yes, and then I'll

10:30

fill in the gaps, right? This is how kids

10:32

ask parents for stuff, right? In fact, the

10:34

Greek text here is really kind of funny.

10:36

It's a little bit Yoda-ish. Here's the literal

10:38

Greek, kind of interesting. Jesus,

10:40

they said, we desire whatever we ask

10:43

you would do for us. We

10:45

desire whatever you ask. In other words, go ahead and

10:47

give us a yes, and then we're gonna tell you

10:49

what we want. And then Jesus responds

10:51

like a good parent responds. He

10:54

says, okay, what do you want me to do for you? Before

10:56

I say yes, what do you want me to do for you? And

10:59

they look back to make sure the other guys can't hear.

11:02

And they say, in conspiratorial

11:04

volume, hey, let

11:09

one of us sit at your right and the other

11:11

at your left in your glory. Yeah,

11:14

I mean, we got it. You're number one, but

11:16

you gotta have a number two and a number three. And

11:19

I mean, those guys are great, but hey, we were

11:21

like some of your first guys. Remember the very beginning,

11:23

we didn't have anybody, and we were there for you.

11:27

When we get to Jerusalem and you

11:29

proclaim yourself king, I mean, we'll

11:31

probably hang back during the spitting and flogging

11:33

and all that part. But anyway, when that's

11:35

over with and you're finally the king, we're

11:38

brothers. We wanna be number

11:40

one and number two. And

11:44

can you imagine what Jesus is thinking? See, we know the

11:46

whole story. We know what he's

11:48

about to encounter. They didn't, but

11:50

he knows. And they're like, hey, I mean,

11:53

what? And so this is what he says to

11:55

them. He says, hey guys, you don't know, you

11:58

don't know what you're asking, Jesus said. You

12:00

don't really know what you're you You

12:03

want to be not you want to be that close

12:05

to me? Then he's sort of asked them in this

12:07

sort of New Testament language. Can can

12:09

you two drink the cup? Can

12:13

you two face or endure

12:15

the baptism that I'm about to

12:17

undergo? This is kind of symbolic language where

12:19

I'm about to drink something Do you think

12:21

you can handle what I'm drinking? Do you

12:24

really think that you can undergo what I'm

12:26

about to undergo? Here's what they said. Oh,

12:28

yeah. Yeah We can't we

12:30

got this. I mean bring

12:33

it on a Week

12:35

later a week later there

12:38

with the rest of the Apostles Jesus is arrested

12:40

and they just run away with

12:43

everybody else I mean before any like there

12:45

was no battle or anything their their lives

12:47

weren't being threatened just as soon as Jesus

12:49

is arrested They're out and I

12:51

think I'm just making this part up. I

12:53

think forever after that. It's like hey John

12:56

Remember that whole thing. Oh, yeah, we're with you.

12:58

We can take it then you ran away like

13:00

the rest of us I think this was like

13:02

just the whole of it. So just had to

13:04

be their most embarrassing moment,

13:06

right now They

13:09

this little conversation didn't remain a secret I

13:11

mean long before it was documented in by

13:13

Matthew and Mark apparently the us

13:15

the other ten guys found out about it Here's what

13:17

happened when the ten the other ten when

13:20

the other ten heard about this conversation These two had

13:22

had privately with Jesus somehow they found out about it.

13:24

They became indignant with James and John

13:26

Hey, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, who

13:28

you guys think you should be number

13:30

two and number three we want to

13:32

be number two and an argument breaks

13:34

out among Jesus disciples as they're making

13:36

their way to Jerusalem and the Argument

13:39

is about who gets the position who

13:41

gets the power who gets proximity to

13:43

the king who has more position who

13:46

has more power who gets more proximity

13:49

to the king and Jesus

13:51

I don't know what Jesus is thinking. I'm guessing

13:53

this is dangerous. I think Jesus must be thinking

13:55

I Am

13:58

going on my own belief I

14:00

am intentionally going to Jerusalem to

14:03

die for you To give

14:05

my life for you. I'm I'm

14:08

going low I'm

14:10

embracing I'm chasing humility

14:13

and you guys after being with me

14:15

this long Are

14:17

still scrambling and competing

14:22

Position you're still trying to

14:24

get to the

14:26

top pause And

14:29

Christians me included we've been

14:32

doing that ever since except we know

14:34

the story we know what he went through

14:36

and There's still something in

14:38

me and I think a lot of us still

14:41

kind of competing and positioning and

14:44

Somehow it's all about winning and climbing

14:46

and again. We talked about this isn't about

14:48

don't do your best This isn't about don't

14:50

exploit your talent and your resources This

14:53

is about why you do it and how you

14:55

do it and who you do it for?

14:58

So once again, Jesus is like

15:02

Great. All right guys, we're gonna

15:04

have another little meeting everybody off the path. Let everybody

15:06

get ahead of us They're like all these thousands of

15:08

people are getting ahead of us Jesus is like this

15:10

is part of your problem So

15:12

they're gonna have another little sit down so they get

15:14

way off the road again to where nobody can hear

15:16

and then Jesus sets up

15:18

for this amazing Statement

15:21

here's what happens Jesus called them all

15:24

together sit down guys. We're gonna go over this one

15:26

more time Takes a

15:28

deep breath. Okay guys You

15:31

know that those who are regarded

15:33

as rulers of the Gentiles specifically

15:35

the Romans You know

15:37

how those who are regarded as rulers? Lorded

15:40

over them and their

15:42

high officials exercise authority over them

15:44

In other words guys, you

15:47

know how it works in the real world right

15:49

people with the power Retain

15:52

their power and try to get more

15:54

power and leverage their power for themselves

15:56

people with resources Hold on to

15:58

those resources leverage their resources for

16:00

more resources so they can have more resources for

16:03

themselves. Guys, you know how this works? Everything moves

16:05

from the bottom to the top and there's just

16:07

a few at the top and they just hang

16:09

on hang on hang on and cling and they make

16:11

decisions based on what's best for them regardless

16:13

of the people further down in society. Do you

16:15

know you know how this works? And

16:18

they're like, of course we

16:21

do. That's why we want to

16:23

be number two and number three. We know exactly

16:25

how this works. That was the point of our

16:27

question. That's why we're so mad at those two

16:29

because they're trying to get further up the food

16:32

chain than we are. We know how it works.

16:36

And then four words, this isn't the big statement, but

16:38

this is a big one. Then

16:40

four words that are aimed at people like me. I

16:44

think maybe more at people

16:46

like me who do what I do. But

16:48

they're also aimed

16:50

at people like you. You

16:52

ready for this? This is amazing. Okay, setting

16:55

up again. Guys, you

16:57

know how the power thing works. You know how the

16:59

resource things work. You know how the

17:01

whole pyramid thing works. Look up here and

17:03

they're like, we know. Not

17:09

so with you. Not

17:13

in my kingdom. Not

17:16

in my ecclesia. Not

17:18

in my movement. You're gonna be part of

17:20

my movement. Then you leverage your power and

17:22

your resources and your family connections and your

17:24

success and anything you got going for you.

17:26

You're constantly looking for a way to leverage

17:29

it for the benefit of other people. You

17:31

don't hoard it for yourself. Not

17:33

so with you. Not so among

17:35

you. You want to be great?

17:38

James and John, come on. You guys wanted to be

17:40

great, right? They're like, oh yeah, we'd

17:42

like to be great. All you guys want to

17:44

be great. Yeah, we want to be great. Jesus

17:46

says, well, I think wanting to be great is

17:48

a great thing. Let me tell you

17:50

how to be great in my kingdom. Whoever he says,

17:53

whoever wants to become great among

17:55

you, James and John, right? They're like, yeah,

17:58

you want to be great. to

18:00

want to be great. Whoever wants to be great among you,

18:03

you got to become the servant. Back

18:05

the line. Wait your turn.

18:07

You may not even get a turn. Wait

18:09

till everybody else is served. Wait till everybody

18:11

else is seated. Wait until everybody else has

18:13

what they need first.

18:17

And whoever wants

18:20

to be first must

18:22

be the slave of all. Again,

18:26

this is such strong terminology.

18:28

Imagine they're sitting there listening

18:31

to their rabbi who just a

18:33

few days earlier had raised Lazarus

18:35

from the dead. You

18:37

don't say, nah, I don't think so. You just listen

18:40

quietly and feel the weight

18:43

of this and the embarrassment of this because this is

18:45

how he lived. This is how he treated them. This

18:47

is the way of the cross. This is

18:49

invitation to you and to me and to the world to

18:52

choose because it's always a choice. And

18:54

every single day I'm tempted to say

18:56

no to the temptation to say no to

18:58

this opportunity to say no to the invitation.

19:00

It's the way of the servant

19:04

and it's a choice. We get to

19:06

choose. We can choose not

19:08

to be great in the here and now kingdom of

19:10

God, or we can choose to be

19:12

great in the here and now kingdom

19:16

of God. We can continue

19:19

competing for greatness and

19:21

the fading kingdom of mortals. Right?

19:24

Competing for what can't be kept, competing

19:26

for what fades and ages and eventually

19:30

passes away. You know,

19:32

moth and rust says

19:34

Jesus, feathers and

19:36

dust says, anybody know? Proximo.

19:40

Nobody knew who that was. Okay. Anyway, so we,

19:42

you will later. So we can continue chasing

19:44

the wind as we talked about feeling

19:47

great about ourselves one day, feeling bad about

19:49

ourselves the next day, feeling great about ourselves

19:51

one day, feeling bad about ourselves the next

19:53

day, feeling great than hating ourselves the next

19:55

day, comparing and trying to win,

19:57

comparing, coveting, lusting. This

20:01

is kind of a dumb question. Is that how you want to live your life? Is

20:03

that how I want to live my life? Is that

20:05

what I want to look back on? Jesus,

20:08

no. There's

20:10

better. You're invited to better. You

20:12

can live better. It's the way of Jesus. It's the

20:14

way of the cross. The cross says no. This

20:17

is what they're stuck on. I promise you, they're stuck on. Servant?

20:21

Because they actually, everybody kind of had servants.

20:23

I mean, the class system was so stratified.

20:26

Slave? Okay. Jesus. That's

20:29

not what we signed up for. We

20:32

signed up for glory. We

20:35

signed up for fame. We signed up

20:37

for King David and we

20:39

signed up for King Solomon, the glory

20:41

years of our nation, fortune and fame.

20:45

Then Jesus pauses, I

20:48

think, and he moves close and

20:51

he delivers the line that took

20:53

their excuses away. And

20:56

he delivers the line that takes

20:58

my excuses away. He delivers

21:00

the line, if you claim to be a

21:02

Christian or a Jesus follower, that takes all

21:04

of your excuses away, that

21:07

should take our breath away,

21:10

that certainly should take our entitlement

21:12

and our arrogance away. It's

21:15

the statement that should move me out of the

21:17

way because this is

21:19

the way of Jesus.

21:23

Jesus defined the way

21:25

of Jesus. And here it is, you ready? This

21:28

is the line that is so

21:30

clarifying that if this went from

21:32

here to here to here to here, it

21:36

changes everything. He's

21:38

like, guys, you know how it works in the real world?

21:41

Yeah. You know how the power all goes up, the cling to the, yeah,

21:43

we know all that. Not so in

21:45

my kingdom. All right. Not so in your kingdom.

21:51

And he

21:53

lifts the title

21:56

from the Old Testament book of Daniel, the prophet Daniel, talked

21:58

about the son of man. of man. This

22:00

was Daniel's description of the one that God would

22:02

send to deliver the world. God's

22:05

final king, God's Messiah. And Jesus

22:07

now takes this on as his title.

22:09

He's used it multiple times throughout the gospels.

22:11

He's like, for even the son

22:13

of man did

22:16

not come to be served.

22:18

You guys want to be served. Look at

22:20

me. He'd say, I am your king. Not

22:23

even I required people to

22:25

serve me. What

22:29

kind of king is that? Who would

22:31

even want to be that kind of king? But

22:35

imagine a kingdom or a

22:37

community or a family or imagine a nation

22:40

that took their cue from

22:43

that kind of king. For even the

22:45

son of man, he's pointing at himself did come to be served. But

22:50

to serve, they think, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. It's

22:53

one thing to be a king that

22:55

doesn't require people to serve the king.

22:58

It's another thing altogether when

23:00

the king decides to flip

23:02

the script and serve those

23:04

who are his subjects.

23:09

But he wasn't through. Maybe

23:13

at this point he turns and

23:16

he faces Jerusalem. For even the

23:18

son of man did not come to be served, but to

23:20

serve. He

23:22

faces Jerusalem and says, and

23:25

to give his life, because

23:27

it was his choice. Nobody

23:30

took his life from him.

23:32

He marched to Jerusalem to

23:35

give it away.

23:38

Now, someone say something about this real quick. We'll come

23:40

back. And

23:42

again, I don't know what this looks like in your life. So if

23:45

you're like, Andy, be more specific. I don't know how to be more

23:47

specific. Do

23:49

you know why you should look for opportunities to give

23:51

your life away? Because

23:55

your opportunity to give your life

23:58

away is slipping away. Because

24:02

one day your life will be taken

24:04

from you and on that day your

24:06

opportunity, my opportunity to freely give our

24:08

lives away comes

24:10

to an end. Our

24:13

time is running out. If you're 20

24:15

or if you're 60 or

24:17

if you're 80, our time or

24:20

opportunity is running out to mimic and

24:22

to follow Jesus by giving our lives

24:24

away. The reason we should look for

24:26

opportunities to give it away is because

24:29

the opportunity to give it away is slipping

24:31

away and one day it

24:34

ends. This

24:37

is the way of

24:39

the cross. For even

24:41

the Son of Man did not come to be served but to

24:43

serve. He looks to Jerusalem

24:45

and to give his life away

24:50

as a ransom

24:53

for many. And

24:55

they're like, quiet. And then

24:57

he says, okay, let's go. Get

25:00

back up, get back on the road, join the crowd.

25:02

They've fallen way behind. We are so in the back

25:04

of the line now. Thank you very much. They're

25:07

on their way to Jerusalem and they still didn't

25:09

understand. But they were about to

25:11

witness, imagine this, they're about to witness what

25:13

John the Baptist predicted when John the Baptist

25:15

came on the scene and Jesus walks down

25:17

to the valley where John the Baptist is

25:20

baptizing in the Jordan River and he stops

25:22

what he's doing and he looks up and

25:24

he says, behold, look, the lamb of

25:26

God who comes to take away the sins of the

25:28

world. They are about to

25:30

witness that. They're about

25:32

to become witnesses of the greatest event that

25:34

ever happened. The salvation

25:38

of the world. The ultimate

25:43

serve. The moment that

25:45

would define Christianity.

25:47

The moment that would define

25:50

our faith. The moment that would define what it

25:52

means and what it looks like to

25:54

follow Jesus. And

25:57

so the cross became the icon.

26:01

of our faith because the

26:03

folks who were there understood

26:05

that it represented the template,

26:08

the paradigm or the pattern

26:10

of our faith because

26:12

it's the ultimate loss. It's the

26:15

ultimate shame. It's the ultimate back

26:17

of the line. And after the

26:19

resurrection, they're like, we get

26:21

it. We got it. And

26:24

they live their lives that way. And

26:26

it multiplied and multiplied and multiplied.

26:28

It's why we're here.

26:31

We're not here because Christians got

26:33

their way. We're

26:36

here because first and second

26:38

centuries Christians gave their lives

26:41

away. That's why the gospel

26:44

endured the might of

26:47

Rome. It's a standing

26:50

invitation. It's an empowering invitation. It's

26:52

an invitation to participate in the kingdom

26:54

of God right now in

26:57

your family, in the marketplace, as soon as we leave

26:59

every single day. And every day

27:01

we're going to be tempted not to

27:03

accept the invitation because it's so counter

27:05

cultural and so counter natural. But imagine

27:08

if we said, yes, imagine

27:10

if we led our families that way.

27:13

Imagine if we worked that way, served

27:15

our employers that way. Imagine if we

27:17

led in the marketplace that way. Imagine

27:20

if we reacted that

27:22

way. It's risky and it's foolish. At least we think so

27:24

now, but in the end we won't think that way because

27:28

the power of God, the

27:30

love of God, the kingdom of

27:32

God is released and

27:35

recognized in us and through us in

27:37

the real world when we say

27:39

yes to the invitation of

27:41

the cross. So

27:45

what if we said yes? What

27:47

if we tried to say yes? What if we,

27:49

like we said last week, what if we chased

27:52

humility? What if we said yes

27:54

at home and at work and at school with our

27:56

friends? What if we, what if we decided to chase

27:59

humility with our enemies? What if we refuse to

28:01

reduce the cross to simply a way of

28:03

believing and really

28:05

embraced it based on the

28:07

pattern and the teaching of Jesus as

28:09

a way of living our lives? This

28:11

is what Jesus invites us to

28:14

do, to defer, to give, to

28:16

forgive, to serve, to choose, to

28:18

lose again, to chase humility.

28:22

And then I'm done. When

28:24

we think it's too much, you're

28:27

asking too much, it's too high. You know, you're asking me

28:29

to go too low. This

28:31

is when it should reverberate in our minds. It's why

28:34

you should memorize this statement. It's why I think it's

28:36

just the most amazing thing that came from the lips

28:38

of Jesus. In those moments where you're

28:40

asking too much, I've already given, I've already served, I've

28:42

already apologized, I've already let them take the credit, I've

28:44

gone about as low as I know how to go,

28:47

I don't know that I can go any further. Jesus

28:50

smiles and he looks at you and he says, yeah,

28:52

I know, thank you. Just

28:54

remember this, for even your

28:57

savior, the

29:00

one who after the resurrection, again,

29:03

it just doesn't get enough airplay. The

29:05

one who stands on a mountain after his

29:07

resurrection and says, hey, all

29:09

authority on heaven and earth

29:11

has been given to me. The same one who

29:14

stood in that upper room while they're serving Passover

29:16

and realized, oh my goodness, all

29:18

authority belongs to me. I'm

29:20

the most important person in the room, I'm the most

29:22

powerful person in the room. Even

29:25

that man, even the son

29:27

of man did

29:29

not come to be served but to serve and

29:32

to give his life as a

29:34

ransom for many. And

29:37

you are part of

29:40

the many. So

29:43

why not accept his invitation to

29:45

live as part of

29:49

his kingdom? And

29:52

if we do, if we

29:54

figure it out, if we decide it's not

29:56

too hard, it's not too low, if we decide even if we

29:58

get it wrong, we're gonna keep trying. to keep

30:00

it front and center. Things

30:03

will change, but

30:06

the change starts here.

30:09

But when it's real change, it

30:11

will be evident out there.

30:15

You are part of

30:18

the many. So

30:20

why not accept his invitation to

30:23

participate? Thanks

30:29

for listening. But before you go, I

30:31

wanted to take a minute to thank

30:34

everyone who supports Your Move financially. It's

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