Wouldn’t it be nice to view things through the eyes of a child?
To be as excited about feeding the goldfish as they are?
To be as thrilled about touching grass as they are?
To be as exhilarated by one frosted cupcake as they are?
 
Today we are looking at another eyewitness account of the resurrected Lord Jesus. In this account, the people who get to see Jesus are filled with wonder. Our goal is to (1) determine why they are filled with wonder (2) how they express that wonder (3) consider what that means for expressing our own wonder at Jesus.
 
Before we begin, a prayer: Lord, strengthen us by the truth; your Word is truth. Open our eyes to see what you want us to see; our ears to hear what you want us to hear and our hearts to believe what you would have us believe. Amen.
 
I. Waiting for God

Afterward Jesus appeared again to his disciples, by the Sea of Galilee. (Jn. 21:1)
A brief timeline of events --- This occurs afterwards. After the encounter with Thomas which is already a week after Easter. Beyond that we don’t know for sure, but it might have taken some time, because the disciples meetup in Galilee.
 
The Sea of Galilee is important to note is located about 100 some miles north of Jerusalem, the last spot that the disciples saw Jesus. That means the disciples had taken a couple of days journey to get back to Galilee.
That’s important, because it isn’t as if Jesus keeps appearing in the same city, in the same house, in the same room. If that were the case, it’d be really easy to say: “There was something wrong with the room. Maybe there was some kind of mirror trick that was occurring. In the end, Jesus didn’t rise.”

The fact that this next account takes place up by the Sea of Galilee which is 100 miles away from the last appearances of Jesus lends credibility to the resurrection.
 
And the reason the disciples went up to the Sea of Galilee? Most likely they are responding to a command from Jesus that he had given them before his death and resurrection occurred. Look at Matthew 26:32. In it, Jesus said, “After I have risen, I will go ahead of you into Galilee.”
Since Jesus said he would die…and he did.
And he said he would rise…and he did.
He probably is going to go up to Galilee, because he said it…

So the disciples head on up to Galilee and they wait.
They wait.
They wait.
And they wait.
They are waiting for God to show up.
Literally.
And Peter…well…he isn’t great at just sitting around and waiting. (Maybe you can relate.)
He isn’t good at just sitting around and twiddling his thumbs.
He has to do something.

So…he does. “I’m going out to fish,” Peter told them, and they said, “We’ll go with you.” (Jn. 20:3)

Sometimes God says the same to us. Sometimes God calls us to wait…
God told the ancient Israelites to wait for a Savior.
Jesus told his disciples to wait for his resurrection.
And now he told them to wait in Galilee for him to show up.
And that’s okay, right? Because I know that ya’ll are really, really good at waiting.
I know that you don’t have any problem…
When I-440 gets backed up.
When your phone says there’s a 20 minute delay on the drive home from work.
When someone is entering on the “On Ramp” and they do that thing where they drive all the way up to where the lane ends, just so that you have to wait longer.

Humans are real good at waiting, right?

One of the things that Julianna and I have always been looking forward to is becoming parents.
Personally, I think it would be a blast.
I look forward to teaching my kids how to tie a shoe.
I look forward to reading them my favorite stories.
I look forward to training them how to ride a bike.
I look forward to opening the first bag of Doritos with them!
I look forward to telling them about the Savior, about God’s love, about all that Jesus has done.
And…honestly…it has been our prayer and hope for almost 8 years.

So far…
God has said.

“Wait.”

Honestly, that’s hard.
In a society where we hardly have to wait for anything.
Waiting for God to show up is hard.

Whether it’s waiting for God to show up and cure a sickness…
Or to show up and help with finances.
Or to show up and reconcile your relationship.
Waiting for God is hard.
 
But I think if you learn anything from Peter here as he is waiting – it’s this. While you’re waiting for God, you do what you can.
What he could do was fish. In fact, it was his career before the three years of following Jesus. So…rather than sit around and do nothing – he did what he could. He got out the boat. He packed up the nets. He cast off from shore. He went about earning some kind of living.

He did what he could.

And if you’re waiting for God to show up and do something amazing, don’t do nothing.
Do what you can.
Go see a doctor.
Save up your money.
Reach out to those you’ve wronged.
Do something.
Trust God but do something while you’re waiting for God to show up and do something amazing!

II. Jesus Shows Up
 
Which is exactly what happens next.

Because the disciples are out on that lake all night. They are on the lake all night and they catch nothing. (v.3)
And you can imagine that Peter didn’t take that lightly. He and James and John were all fishermen of Galilee. So, they probably said things like:

“We need to try over behind that reedy section. The fish always bite there.”
“Oh, that didn’t work, because I forgot that when the wind is blowing to the northeast at 12 mph, the fish move over by that log over there.”
“Sure. There weren’t any fish by the log, but I imagine that’s because you sneezed, Thomas. You gotta be quieter.”

As they are thinking about packing it up and getting back to shore, they are greeted by the voice of a gentleman about 100 yards off. He calls out:

“Friends, haven’t you any fish?” (v.5)
And the disciples respond with a simple: “No.” (v.5b)

But the stranger from shore responds: “Throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some fish.” (v.6)

They throw their nets on the right side of the boat…and…When they did, they were unable to haul the net in because of the large number of fish. (v.6)
 
Which…

I don’t know if you know this or not, but…this had already happened to Peter, James and John.
In Luke 5, way back when Jesus first met them…He stood on shore, told them where to cast their nets, and they caught so many fish they fell at Jesus’ feet and proclaimed Jesus as the Lord.

Maybe John remembers.
Because immediately he responds: “It is the Lord!” (v.7)
 
TRUTH: Jesus lives
 
It’s a bit different than the first truth from the last four weeks, but not really. Again – Jesus appears and does something miraculous by knowing exactly where a bunch of fish are, collecting them all to the side of the disciples’ boat, and telling them when and where to drop net while he’s 100 yards away on the shore.

This is Jesus.
Jesus is alive.
Jesus is alive and still has all of his miraculous, incredible power.

So…if you’re waiting for God.
And you’re thinking…when is he gonna show up.
And you’re thinking…maybe he’s not because he’s not real.

You’re wrong.

Because…again…Jesus lives. And all of his resurrected power still lives with him.
 
And maybe add this to your notes:
He lives…even during the everyday times.
Because what’s unique in this appearance is that it doesn’t occur as a group of people are going to the tomb to mourn Jesus.
It doesn’t happen as two people are walking to Emmaus and discussing Jesus.
It doesn’t occur while an entire room of disciples is trying to wrap their minds around the implications of Jesus’ empty tomb.

It’s while they’re fishing!

Here’s the truth:
God shows up.
He is alive.
He is with you…even during the everyday stuff.

Even when you are trying to get your kids ready for gymnastics and they’re being kinda whiny and hard to work with…Jesus lives.
Even when you are at work bogged down by paperwork after email after Excel spreadsheet…Jesus lives.
Even when you are in the hospital for another routine checkup…Jesus lives.

Jesus is alive…even during the everyday stuff.
 
That’s great news.
And it warrants a reaction.

III. Responding to Jesus!
 
As soon as Simon Peter heard John say, “It is the Lord,” he wrapped his outer garment around him (for he had taken it off) and jumped into the water. (v.7)
 
Did you hear that?
Impetuous.
Unhinged.
Fully clothed.
Even – putting more clothes on – before he jumps int the water.

You might call that silly.
God calls it “worship.”  
 
TRUTH: True worship flows from beholding the Risen Savior.

Granted. That might not be what you think of when you think of worship.
In fact, for some of you – especially if you’re not a worship goer – you might think of worship as something you were “forced” to do back when you were little.
Something that mom made you do.
Something that your dad insisted you do.
Something that your parents would do as they dragged you kicking and screaming to worship only so that you sat there with your arms folded “worshiping.”

Newsflash – If your heart isn’t into worship, it isn’t worship.
Look at John 4:23. Jesus says, True worshipers worship in spirit and truth.
 
That means true worship starts in your spirit.
True worship starts in your heart.
And it flows.
 
Like a natural spring of water.
It bubbles.
It flows.
It erupts.
Sometimes just like Old Faithful in Yellowstone Park.

True worship flows, naturally, freely, out of love for Jesus.
Now if you grew up as a Lutheran, you might hear the word “worship” and think of standing up and sitting down, singing beautifully worded hymns, and with four-part harmony coming from the back pews.

If you grew up from a different background, you might hear “worship” and think of candles, sprinkling oils, and chanting in Latin.

If you grew up from a still different background, you might hear “worship” and think of the music – guitars, piano and some drums.

Guess what…
If it’s a heart focused on Jesus.
It’s worship.
Even if it’s a different type of worship.

Take a look at the different types of worship in this section!
John sees Jesus and says, “It is the Lord!”
Peter sees Jesus and jumps in the water.
The other disciples see Jesus and happily steward all the gifts he just gave them and row back to shore.
 
All worship.

It’s important to remember that.

Because…if I start to believe that all people NEED to worship in one particular way…Do you know what that does?
If I turn to my friend and I say, “Listen, dude…If you aren’t on your knees when you’re worshipping God, then that’s not worship.”
Then, do you know what happens?
That guy will probably get onto his knees…
But it’s no longer flowing forth out of love for Jesus.
But out of being shackled to the mode of worship that you told him was necessary.  

Almost like he’s now worshiping the worship.
 
Don’t shackle your friends.
Worship your Savior.
In a variety of beautiful ways.
 
And there are a lot.
You might stand. You might sit.
You might speak. You might shout.
You might play the organ. You might play the guitar. You might play the drums.
You might speak English. You might speak Spanish. You might speak Mandarin Chinese.
You might even do what some of the little children do and speak some form of “Baby!”

 If it is a heart of praise proclaiming Jesus – it’s worship.

One more thing: Worship can be divided into two categories.  

What we’ve talked about so far is WORTHSHIP. That’s what John did. John saw Jesus and proclaimed His Worth: It is the Lord! Lord is a name that means “Master.” It means “leader.” It means “ruler.” For the disciples, it means, “There’s the risen Jesus, king of heaven and earth who rules over death itself and now lives as our resurrected Savior.”

True worship expresses itself in WORTHSHIP.
That’s what we do every Sunday. We worship God by expressing His WORTH in our songs, hymns, prayers, Bible readings.

But that’s not the only way we worship

Because look at what Peter does. He jumps into the water.
And the other disciples start rowing that boat load of fish.
That’s worship, too.
But instead of proclaiming worth, they go to work.

True Worship expresses itself in WORK-ship.

Romans 12: 1 says this, “In view of God’s mercy, offer yourselves as living sacrifices. This is your spiritual act of worship.”  
Because worship is not just a thing that you do by singing praises to God in one worship service on one day each week.  
Worship is something you for the glory of God all week.

When you invite someone to worship for the glory of God.
When you give a gift to his ministry for the glory of God.
When you teach little children for the glory of God.
When you share a passage on social media for the glory of God
When you cook your family dinner for the glory of God.
When you do your family’s laundry for the glory of God.
Whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.

CONCLUSION:
Because when God arrives, man does he do glorious things.
Look the last part of the account:
When they landed, the disciples saw a fire of burning coals there with fish on it and some bread. (v.9)

Jesus had just given them 153 fish.
But that’s not all.

He gives them a net that doesn’t break.
But that’s not all.

He gives them a balanced breakfast!
That’s what happens when God arrives, God provides abundantly.
 
Think about it --
When Jesus arrived, after millennia of waiting for the Savior, He didn’t just provide forgiveness for one of your sins.
Not for two.
Not for 17.
But for all of your sins.

Friends, when God arrives, He provides abundantly.

That’s a reason a to wait.
It’s a reason to worship. Amen.

Over this sermon series, we’ve talked a lot about Fighting Temptation. But…How confident do you feel that you can fight temptation and win?
Today we’re going to study God’s Word and my goal is to teach you why you have every reason in the world to Fight Temptation confidently. Before we do that, a prayer: Lord, strengthen us by the truth; your Word is truth. Open our eyes to see what you want us to see; our ears to hear what you want us to hear and our hearts to believe what you would have us believe. Amen.
 
I. Reasons for Lacking Confidence
 
The lesson for this morning comes from Isaiah. He was a prophet who lived around 640 B.C. Mainly he preached warnings about what would happen to the Israelites if they didn’t start fighting temptation.
 
But most people didn’t listen.
God, through Isaiah, even predicted that they wouldn’t listen. 
It’s why he prophesied that they would be taken into captivity.

Which…is exactly what happened. In 597 B.C., the Babylonian army ransacked the country of Judah. They destroyed the infrastructure and took hundreds of thousands of Israelites captive as prisoners back to Babylon.

It was then, in captivity, that many of the people began to listen.
They looked back at the prophesies of Isaiah and discovered sections like this:
“Who handed Jacob over to become loot, and Israel to the plunderers? Was it not the Lord, against whom we have sinned? For they would not follow his ways;
they did not obey his law. So he poured out on them his burning anger, the violence of war. It enveloped them in flames, yet they did not understand; it consumed them, but they did not take it to heart.” (v.24-25)
 
Can you imagine?
 
Being in captivity.
And realizing…
 
We sinned.
We didn’t follow his ways.
We did not obey his law.
We are in flames because of our sinful failures!
 
I can’t imagine that the Israelites had a lot of confidence.
Just a lot of “if onlys.”

If only I’d listened to God.
If only I had fought back against temptation.
If only I had told that merchant, “No. We don’t need your bejeweled god statues. We worship the one true, invisible God, the Lord.”
If only I had told my wife, “No, we aren’t going to teach our kids that worship isn’t important. We’ll tell them that worship is the most important thing to their eternal relationship with God.”
If only I had told my friends, “No, I’m not going to get drunk with you tonight…then I never would have done a lot of other things that I wish I had never done.”
If only I had told myself, “Get up. Fight these temptations. Stop being complacent and follow your God.”

Then, I wouldn’t be in captivity.

But now…?
It feels too late.
I’ve failed too many times.
God has abandoned me.
I’m alone.

Temptation will always win.

Can you relate?

Maybe your record against temptation isn’t good.
Maybe you keep losing in your personal battle against your personal demons.
Maybe you have a weakness that you’re so ashamed of – you question if you even belong in this church family.
Maybe you feel weighed down by guilt, alone in your battle, like you are in captivity to a particular sin!
Maybe you’ve tried psyching yourself up, waking up in prayer, saying, “Today is the day I beat that temptation,” only…to attempt your day…and…lose.
Maybe you feel alone like you are the only one who is fighting against a particular sin.

And, maybe, all of these thoughts convince you…

That you’ll never win.
That you’ll always fail against temptation.
That you have NO reason to be confident in ever winning again.

But…
If that’s how you think…
You’re wrong.
 
II. Confidence from God Himself

Listen to Isaiah 43.
It’s written for God’s people.
It’s written for God’s people in captivity to Babylon.
It’s written for God’s people in captivity to their own sinful choices.
It’s written to God’s people – like you.

And it’s filled with confidence-boosting statements from God himself.
 
But now, this is what the Lord says—

he who created you, Jacob,
he who formed you, Israel:
“Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;
I have summoned you by name; you are mine.
When you pass through the waters,
I will be with you;
and when you pass through the rivers,
they will not sweep over you.
When you walk through the fire,
you will not be burned;
the flames will not set you ablaze.
 For I am the Lord your God,
the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. (Isaiah 43:1-3)
 
Look at those words.
Do you hear God’s voice?
He’s speaking to you.
And giving you all kinds of confidence.
 
(1) “You are my Creation.”
 
Look at the first verse. It says, “This is what the LORD says, he who created you, O Jacob; he who formed you, O Israel.” (43:1) It’s not even an actual statement of God yet, but through it, God still communicates something to you.

“You are my creation.”
 
Over at Precious Lambs, the kids take their artwork very, very seriously. They are proud of their artwork. They love to show off their artwork. They love to show me their artwork. They love to bring artwork home for mom and dad.
 
And they get really, really upset if they lose their artwork.
 
There was a girl the other day whose conversation with mom went something like this:

“Calm down. Honey. What’s wrong!”
“You threw my artwork away!”  
“Are you sure? I just threw some of the pictures with scribbles on them away.”  
“It wasn’t scribbles. It was a picture of a unicorn!”

Kids love their artwork because it’s their artwork.
They created it.
They put it on paper.
Their imagination developed the piece.

The same is true with God and you.

You come from the annals of God’s divine mind.
He thought you up before you ever thought your first word.
He knit you together with his own powerful, yet gentle hands. (Psalm 139:13)

Do you think God will just leave you to suffer?
Do you think God won’t come to your rescue?
Do you think God won’t work tirelessly to get you back even after your own sins have left you feeling like garbage?

He won’t.
He didn’t.
 
(2) “You are Redeemed.”
 
Verse 2 says this, “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you.” (Isaiah 43:2a)
Redeem means to “buy back.” To “pay for.” To “purchase again.”

And God has redeemed YOU.

Because yes! We fell to sin.
Yes, we were owned by our guilt.
We were owned by our shame.
We were owned by our addictions.
We were owned by our brokenness.

But then…
Jesus came to earth.
He offered the most precious currency of all:


His perfect blood.

Jesus bought you.
Jesus paid for you.
Jesus redeemed you.

You do not belong to your addiction.
You do not belong to your temptation.
You do not belong to your sins.

You belong to God!

It’s like at Sola café: They have this little card at Sola café that if you remember to have it stamped every time you order a drink, the 10th drink is free! Even if you do what I do and order a small coffee, the cheapest thing on the menu, for the other 9 drinks, you can get a large, 6-dollar Caramel Macchiato for FREE. Fully paid for.

You have been fully paid for.
No matter how much sin you have fallen to.
You belong to God – fully and completely.
 
(3) “I know you.”
 
God says, “I have called you by name.” (Isaiah 43:2b) That’ s an uplifting truth.
 
Because it’s easy to feel like you are just a number.
It’s easy to feel as if God’s redemptive power is big and great, but not that personal.

It’s like calling for tech support. And you say, “Hi! I’m Phil calling from Gethsemane Church” and they say, “What’s your equipment ID number?” And you say, “I don’t know that. But I’m from Gethsemane Church, we have an account with you.” And they say, “Equipment ID Number please.” And you say, “I spoke with you about 15 minutes ago? Don’t you remember me?” And they say, “I remember you. You haven’t given me the Equipment ID Number yet.”

God says you are more than an Equipment ID Number to him.
You are you.

He knows your name.
He knows your first name.
He knows your last name.
He knows your middle name.

He knows your nickname.
He knows your maiden name.
He knows your username.

He knows your pet name.
He knows your surname.
He even knows your Superhero name – that you found out from that one Facebook quiz you took way back in 2014.

God knows you.
Personally knows you.

He knows your struggles.
He knows your weaknesses.
He knows the things you’ve told your friends.
He knows the things you’ve told your counselor.
He knows the things you haven’t told your counselor.

He stands beside you.
And whispers: “You have a new name.”
I will call you, “Mine.”

This is why he also whispers:

(4) “I am With You.”
 
God has Isaiah write this, “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze.” (Isaiah 43:3)
 
This is a metaphor.
But…also literal.

Because in the Old Testament, the Israelite people had once been surrounded by their enemies and a deep, vast sea. They had no where to go! They were as good as dead.
But God was with them.
He split the waters and they crossed through on dry ground – fish and sea weed and currents on each side.

And again in the Old Testament, some men were thrown into a fiery furnace because they didn’t bow down and worship a giant golden statue of the king.
But God was with them.
He kept them safe in the flames so that not a hair, not a thread, not even a little piece of beard was singed in the fire. Neither did they smell of smoke.

And you…when you are surrounded by temptation.
When you feel all alone.
When you think there’s no way out.
When you are terrified of what’s going on in your life.

God is with you.

He will keep you safe.
He will help you out.
He will lead you safely – undrowned.
Unburned.
Victorious over temptation!
 
And here’s how he does it:
 
(5) “I am your Savior.”
 
God has Isaiah write this, “I am the LORD, your God, the holy One of Israel, your Savior.” (v.3)
That same powerful God who defeated split the Red Sea.
That same powerful God who kept the men safe in the furnace.
That same powerful God who died on the cross and saved you from sin – is your Savior.

It isn’t like waiting in the doctor’s office to see your specific specialist about your specific special problem and then someone walks into the room.
You don’t recognize them. You look closely at their name badge and it says: “Intern.”

Nope.

God is your Savior.
 
Not your “might be Savior.”
Not your “Try-the-hardest-to-save-but-failing Savior.”
Not even “Everyone else’s Savior.”

No. Your Savior.

Which leads to a very powerful passage. Friends – write this down. Memorize it. Bring it from God’s heart to your heart:
“I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions. I will forget your sins and remember your wickedness no more.” (v.25)
God has destroyed your sins so completely that he can’t even remember a single sin.
He can’t even remember that you’ve failed.
He can’t even remember that you’re a failure.

To him.
Because of him.
In him…
You are a winner.

III. What Now?

And so.
Fight like a champion.
 
And let me tell you:
Champions don’t come on out and let the other punch first.
Nope.

They come out swinging.
They come out dodging.
They come out with a plan.

Do you have a temptation that you struggle against?
Come out swinging.
Come out dodging.
Come out with a plan.  

(1) Come out Swinging
 
Because too often we are reactive against temptation. We wait for it to strike and hope that we can react when it does.

It’s like coffee. I drink too much.
Maybe…some of you knew that.
But here’s the thing…I know I drink too much yet, I put myself in the same situation each day.

I stay up later than I should.
I don’t have anything to drink until I have my morning coffee.
I hang out for the first hour of every weekday – within about 50 steps of the coffee pot.

No wonder I keep failing.
 
Why not go on the offensive?  Romans 8:13 says: “By the Spirit, put to death the misdeeds of the body.” Don’t just punch them in the mouth or put them in a headlock. The language is stronger. Put them to death!
 
Talking about my caffeine struggle:
Why not drink 2 glasses of water before the coffee pot gets put on?
Why not go to bed 30 minutes earlier so that I’m not so tired?
Why not tell an entire congregation about it so that they can hold you accountable and tell you to drink a bit less?

Whatever your temptation is, think about it: how can you attack it?
 
(2) Come out Dodging
 
But there will be times when temptation blindsides you.
When suddenly you find yourself in situations in which things don’t look good.
When Satan pulls some guerrilla warfare on you.
What then?

Dodge it. 
Run.
Flee.

The Bible tells the story about a guy named Joseph. He worked as a servant in the house of a rich government official. He loved working there. He respected his master. He wanted to keep his job.

One day – the government official’s wife – she developed a crush on Joseph – he was young and handsome – one day when noticed him working in the house when no one else is around. She said to him, “Come to bed with me. Sleep with me. No one is around. No one will know. You’ll be all mine.”

And Joseph said?
“I’m out of here.”

Literally – the Bible says that he runs away.
He flees.
He dodges the temptation.

Why not do that?
 
Too often I think we tried to play the hero. We try to put ourselves in situations that we know we fail at – and wait to see if we might beat temptation.
The Bible says differently. 2 Timothy 2:2 says, “Flee youthful passions.”
 
Don’t hover over the page with all the scantily clad women -- click the “x” and get out of there.
Don’t hang around the coffee pot or water cooler that’s bringing up your favorite gossip. Leave.
Don’t sit at the dinner table, getting angrier and angrier ready to blow your top on your spouse – say, “Honey. Give me a second.” Walk away. Cool down. Don’t sin.

Dodge temptation.
 
(3) Come out with a Plan
 
I imagine that’s what the final two teams in the NCAA tournament are doing right now. They are planning how to defeat each other. They are coming up with plays, they are coming up with values, they are getting ready to explain to their teams: “When we are in this situation, do this. When we are in this other situation, do this.”

It would be ludicrous for a team to be in the finals of the NCAA tournament and have their plan be, “I don’t have a plan. Try to win.”
It’s ludicrous for us to attempt to fight temptation without a plan.

Proverbs 14:22 says this, “Do not those who plot evil go astray? But those who plan what is good find love and faithfulness.”

Friends, champions make a plan.
In Jesus, you are a champion.
Make a plan to fight against temptation.

If you have a sin that you struggle with…repeatedly, why not come up with a plan?
Why not take a moment and write it up. Literally write it up in a notebook.
Pray about it. Seek God’s wisdom about it. Ask a trusted friend about it. Then, write up your plan.

If you need help in this – I will help you.
So will the others at church.
That’s what I hope you’ll do for others.

Because that’s what church is.
Our goal is to help out, swing, dodge, and plan for your fight against temptation.
Which leads to our final point.
 
(4) View Yourself as the Champ!
 
Because it’s so easy to view yourself as nothing more than a sinner.
And to a certain extent that’s important. It leads us to Jesus.
But once we have heard the promise of God’s forgiveness and we leave these walls to battle temptation, it is so important that we see ourselves as God sees us – as winners in Jesus.

It’s like what happens during a basketball game. If you go into the game thinking, “We’ll probably lose because we are losers,” you’ll probably lose.
But if the coach can get you to think you have a chance or even that you’ll win, you have an advantage because you are already in a winning frame of mind.
 
Friend, you are a winner in Jesus.
Think of yourself as a winner.
Envision yourself squashing the devil and all of his foolish attempts – even if it’s a temptation by which he has squashed you over and over again.

Because you are in Christ.
Christ is in you.
And Christ?

He stomped the devil.
He stomped sin.
He stomped guilt.
He stomped shame.
He stomped death itself when…three days later…

Three days later, he rose from the grave.

Friends, as Christ is the winner, you are a winner.
Have confidence.
Fight temptation. Amen.

What do you value?

Your spouse?
Your children?
Your health?
Your church?
Maybe even your God?

Let me ask again: What do you value?
And I don’t mean what SHOULD you value?
Or what do you think that I AM expecting you to say that you value.
But…reflect…what do you really value?
 
Sometimes my wife and I have a hard time deciding what we value. For instance, on a Friday evening we might be trying to figure out what we want to do. We could head over to Gonza’s Taco and have a delicious Mexican food style evening, or we could head to the local Pho joint for some delicious Vietnamese soup.

And I say, “I Don’t care.”
And she says, “You pick.”
And I say, “It doesn’t bother me.”
And she says, “I don’t know.”

So…what we do is we throw fingers. It’s a game used to decide what to do – kinda like casting lots. I count to three (1-2-3) and then we both hold out any combination of fingers (1, 9, or maybe 3). Then, we add up the total between the two of us. If the number is even, we go out for Vietnamese; if it’s odd, we go out for tacos.

It usually works.

But sometimes, what happens is that we throw out the number, it’s odd and I say, “Good. We’re going to tacos. It’s settled.”
But Julianna says, “Yes, but…can we go for Pho?”

Isn’t how much you value a “thing” best revealed in your reaction to not having the thing?
 
It’s the difference between missing out on your morning orange juice and missing out on your morning coffee.
It's the difference between missing a non-Conference game AND the UNC/Duke showdown.
It’s the difference between missing the “women tell all” episode of the Bachelor and the “After the Final Rose” episode.
It’s the difference between not getting a birthday present from an acquaintance and not receiving one from your spouse.

How much you value a “thing” best revealed in your reaction to not having the thing.
 
But then…
If that’s the case…
The biggest problem.
Not that it isn’t true, but that it reveals the things we really value…to. Our. Shame.  

“Should I get some sleep or stay up late talking to my friend in need?” I choose sleep, because I value it more.
“I could go home and spend time with my kids, but…I want my boss to be impressed.” I value my career more.
 “I could sit down and ask my spouse about their day…OR I could watch a rerun of the Office on Netflix…” I value it more?
 
Jesus has something to say about value. He says, “Do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?” (Mt. 6:25-26)
 
Birds don’t seem to have a lot of value.

They aren’t very big.
Most are the size of my hand.
They can’t get jobs in the tech industry.
They don’t often receive medical internships.
They aren’t even valued enough to get a job in fast food!

Yet…God cares for them.

He gets the nightcrawler out of the ground for the little robin to eat.
He reserves a few kernels after the squirrel’s ambush for the sparrow to be nourished.
He uses a few bread crumbs tossed by a three-year-old down at Lake Lynn to give the duck a kinda fat gut!

Birds don’t have a lot of value.
Yet…God cares for them.

And if God cares for birds of little value, how much more will he care for you…of great value!

He’ll feed you (and if you were at the Fellowship meal – he maybe fed you more than enough).
He’ll clothe you. (and it appears he did that for all of you today)
He’ll give you a roof over your head. (And we have one over ours right now!)

More than that – Jesus died for you.

Because Jesus didn’t come to earth to save sparrows.
He didn’t die on the cross to redeem robins.
He didn’t rise triumphantly to triumph trumpet swans!

He did that for you.
Because…

You are more than a body.
You are more than organs, blood and bones.
You are more than a temporal, physical vessel that will be here for 70 years – 80 if we have the strength.

You are more than evolved slime.
You are more than a smart animal.
You are more than just “the dominant species.”

You have a soul.
You have an eternal soul.
You have an eternal soul that God wants to spend eternity with – so much so that He is willing to shed His Own divine blood on the cross!

Do you get that? When God was faced with the choice between losing you OR losing his life…
He didn’t haven’t to throw fingers.

He couldn’t bear the thought of losing you eternally and so he gave up his life just to be with you.

Wow.

So…What Now? Two things:

(1) Understand Your Eternal Value

Because it is easy to feel valueless.
It’s easy to feel worthless.
It’s easy to look at how other’s treat us, get in our head, and conclude: “I really, don’t have a lot of value. If any!”
 
When that happens, hear God’s voice.
Your value isn’t determined by how many hours a week you work.
Your value isn’t determined by how many pounds you can lift at the gym.
Your value isn’t determined by how many followers you have on Instagram.
Your value isn’t determined by how perfectly you parent.

Your value is determined by God.
And God was willing to die for you.
Because to God, you are invaluable.
Priceless.

(2)  See the Eternal Value of Things

I used to collect baseball cards. I collected baseball cards because my friends collected baseball cards. It was the thing to do.
I remember that I was trading cards with my friends and I saw this card pop up: A Juan Beringer.
I thought he looked cool.
He looked intimidating.
Also – it was signed!

I offered to trade for it.
What would I give my friend?
I’ll give him the Ken Griffey Jr. Rookie Card!

Turns out? Bad assessment of value.
Griffy Jr. Rookie? Worth over a hundred.
Juan Beringer? About five cents.

The more we understand our intrinsic, eternal value to God, the more we will value the things that have intrinsic, eternal value.

Things like a midweek Lenten meditation.
Things like personal Bible study.  
Things like Baptism.
Things like Lord’s Supper.
Things like singing Jesus Loves Me with your kids.
Things like meditation.
Things like sharing the Gospel with your coworker.   
Things like sharing the Gospel with our spouse.
Things like sharing the Gospel with our neighbor.

Friends, this is easier said than done. We live in a world that tells us to value anything but our Savior.
Best case it’s confusing, worst case – soul damning.

But tonight’s message is that Jesus values you.
More than His own life.

Value him.
And you will have eternal life.  Amen.

Today we are continuing our series called The Kingdom of God is Like. It’s a series all about parables. Parables are short earthly stories that teaching about the eternal kingdom of God. Last week, so far, we have heard that the kingdom of God is like a sower, a growing seed, a mustard seed, a homeless fox, an abandoned burial plot and a plow.

Today’s parable is well timed, because it fits in perfectly with a certain holiday.

I don’t know about you, but this past Wednesday, there seemed to be an extreme increase in the number of pirates that live in Raleigh.

Over at the new school, we have a security system with a key fob and you’d think it would lock out pirates, but these pirates were tricky and made their way into the school -- little 3-foot-tall pirates. With eye patches and stuffed parrots.

Pirates love treasure: gold necklaces, silver artifacts, coins, jewelry, bottles of rum. They loved treasure so much that they’d run ashore near a local port, approach someone’s front step and force them to give them treasure.

Not at all unlike what some little 3-foot-tall pirates did around my house on Wednesday!
 
And then, pirates take the treasure, sail to some deserted isle and bury it.
Deep under the ground.
With a few pieces of wood lain across the top:
“X” marks the spot.

Jesus’ parable today says this: “The kingdom of God is like a hidden treasure.” Before we look at it, a prayer: O Lord, strengthen us by the truth; your Word is the truth. Open our eyes to see what you want us to see; open our ears to hear what you want us to hear; open our hearts to believe what you would have us believe. Amen.

I. A Hidden Treasure

Jesus’ parable is from Matthew 13. Take a look: The Kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field. (v.44) In his parable, the treasure is found by a man at work in a field.
 
It’s the middle of the hot day.
He’s sweating.
He’s using a fence post digger to dig a hole for the fence post he’s installing around the back of his owner’s property.

He’s slams and digs.
He slams and digs.
He slams and digs.

All day long.

Until…
Sometime around quitting time….
 
He slams and…
CLANK!

That’s strange.

He slams and…
CLANK!

At first, he thinks it’s a rock. He looks around to see if he can adjust the post hole so he doesn’t have to go through the trouble of moving the rock. But right as he’s about to adjust the hole to the right and he’s thinking of his company’s slogan: “THE RIGHT HOLE IN THE RIGHT SPOT ALL THE TIME,” the glint of the evening sun shines off of something in the middle of the ground.

What is it?
He reaches down.
He brushes the dirt off the top to reveal – a metal crest on the top of an ancient chest.

His heart starts pounding.

He digs.
To the front.
To the back.
To the side.

Until he gets enough of the dirt out of the way to pull the chest out of the hole and look inside.

TREASURE:
Gold.
Silver.
Diamonds.
Jewels.
It must be worth millions of dollars.
 
The man looks around.

The thing is – this isn’t his land. It isn’t his property. And the chest isn’t his property.
If he lets anyone know that he found it on this land, then the treasure will no longer be his. It’ll belong to the guy who’s fence he’s digging.

So…
He puts the chest back into the hole.
He covers it with dirt.
He takes two twigs and aligns them in an “x”.

He heads up to his employer, wishes him a good evening and leaves for the day.

But his work isn’t done.

Later that night, he gets onto his bank account and empties his 401k into his checking account.
He goes on Facebook marketplace and begins placing anything he owns on sale:
His car.
His motorcycle.
His bass fishing boat. 
His Mickey Mantle Rookie Card.
Even his Xbox!

The next morning, he heads to the bank and he puts his house on mortgage!
He takes all of this money.
He heads to work.
He slams a check worth 3 times the amount of the property onto his client’s desk:

I’ll buy this property.
I just think it’s nice.
I figure if I put fence post holes into it; it might as well be mine.

At 3 times the price, his client can’t say no.

The man buys the property.
The property is his.
Everything on the property is his.

But he doesn’t care about most of it.
He only wants THE TREASURE.

II. A Priceless Treasure

Jesus says this: “The Kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field.” (v.44)
 
Because here is the truth:
God’s kingdom is eternally priceless.

There is nothing as valuable.
… nothing as precious.
…nothing as eternally priceless as the kingdom of God.

It lasts forever.
Brings enduring peace.
And connects you to your heavenly father.
 
If you’ve ever searched for kingdom of God, then, you understand the digging for treasure scenario.
 
Because the religious landscape can be a lot like the Sahara Desert.
Places to dig everywhere. Where is the treasure…?

And so you start digging near a very peaceful looking pile of dirt.
A lotus flower is growing nearby.

“Oh! This must be the Sand of Spirituality. I’ve heard of that. Maybe this is where I’ll find the treasure of God’s kingdom.”
And you dig
And you learn breathing practices.
And you fold your body into a pretzel.
And you listen to Yanni.

And you think that you are closer to God…
Because you stopped feeling stress…
And started feeling nothingness.
Oh, the wonderful nothingness.
Suddenly – you think of that jerk Bob from work.
He should be slapped.

 And you realize…
You are the same.
You still sin.
You still feel guilty.
Now you just own a bunch of Yanni CDs.

This is not a treasure worth keeping.

You walk a bit farther and you find a big old pile of rocks.
It’d be tough work to dig over there. But then again – that’d make it the perfect place to put the treasure – under the stones of Self-Righteousness.
And you dig and work hard because you figure if you work harder than anyone else, God will be impressed!

You work hard at being nicer to your family.
You work hard at never saying a mean thing.
You work hard to give extra money to charity.
You work hard at never taking a second glance a member of the opposite sex.
You work hard at being self-righteous.
 
Until you’re scrolling through Facebook after a day of finding self-righteousness and…
An ad pops up for a TRIAL offer of something…with a scantily clad lady telling you to buy it.
 
And you look her a bit longer than you should.
And you think about using some of the money penned for God to buy that thing to make the pretty lady happy.
And your spouse walks in and sees what you’re looking at, so you say something mean in response.
And then you want to get rid of the guilty your feeling, so you tell her about all the bad things she has done.

And…
Suddenly…
Those stones of self-righteousness come tumbling in on top of you.

This isn’t the treasure.
 
And you dig other places.
You dig in the mine of Material Wealth. No treasure.
You dig under the sands of self-allegation. No treasure.
You dig in the pile of filth known as Facebook. No treasure.
No connection with God.
No peace.

In fact, you start to notice a pattern – all these attempts at getting closer to God are the same:

Do Mormon things and God will like you.
Do Islamic things and God will like you.
Do Jewish things and God will like you.
Do Hindu things and God will like you.
Do Tom Cruise things and…well…Tom Cruise will get richer.
 
It’s all the same! It’s all worthless! It’s all meaningless!

And then....
When you’re about to give up.
When you’re tired.
When you’re exhausted.
When you say: “I’m through! I’m done with this religious stuff. God hates me and that’s that. I might as well give up. I might as well put down my shovel and…”

CLANK!

What was that?
CLANK!

There appears to be something here.
CLANK!

There appears to be something different here.

This is the Gospel.
It’s the message of sins forgiven.
It’s the message of the true God.
It’s the message that Jesus lived for you.
It’s the message that Jesus died for you.
It’s the message that Jesus rose for you.
It’s the message that Jesus has removed every last one of your sins.
It’s the message that you are his child, you are forgiven, and you will be in heaven with Him.

It’s this message:
You know it is was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. (1 Peter 1:18-19)
 
Think about it!
That’s the value of Jesus’ blood.
It’s more valuable than gold.
It’s more valuable than silver.
It’s more valuable than a treasure chest of jewels, a treasure chest of rubies or even a treasure chest of those golden foil wrapped coins with chocolate inside.

It’s more valuable than good works.
It’s more valuable than good feelings.
It’s more valuable than any halfhearted, sin-tainted attempts at being holy.

It’s the blood of Jesus.
Our sacrificial lamb.
The perfect Son of God.

His blood has infinite value.
And friends – it pays for your sins.
It pays for your guilt.
It means forgiveness – full forgiveness – free forgiveness – absolute forgiveness --
For you.

III. WHAT NOW?

(1) Give up Untreasures
 
That’s what the man who found the buried treasure did. He sold everything he had. He made room for the real treasure.
He made certain the REAL treasure would be his.

Do the same with God’s kingdom.

Because here’s the truth:
The devil will do everything possible to make you think that something that’s NOT the treasure…IS the REAL treasure.

Don’t get rid of that addiction; it’s too valuable to feeling good.
Don’t get rid of that priority; it’s too valuable to being cool.
Don’t get rid of that self- righteousness; that’s the secret treasure that truly connects you to God.

It’s all lies.
Lies that will prevent you from keeping the true treasure buried within your heart.

And if you listen to the devil, instead of burying the Gospel deep in your heart, you cling to something utterly worthless.
It’s like someone trying to offer you a check for a hundred, billion dollars!
But you really like the piece of mushed banana that you have in your left hand right now so…I’ll pass.

Don’t be foolish!
Don’t fall for the devil’s lies.

The Gospel is eternally priceless!
Get rid of the fake treasure that’s taking up the spot where you’re the REAL treasure of Jesus needs to be.
 
And bury the treasure of the Gospel deep in your heart.
 
(2) Bury the Treasure
 
That doesn’t mean: “Hide the Gospel and tell no one about Jesus.” Nope.
That’s entirely contradictory to Jesus’ own directive to “Go and make disciples of all nations…by teaching them.” (Matthew 28)

Rather it means to hide the Gospel deep within your own heart.
To bury it deep within your soul.
To place it into the very core of your being and who you are.

How do you do that? Get a surgery with one of the fine doctors at Duke and have him implant one of those little Bibles from the Gideons?
Nope.

You spend time in God’s Word.
You read The Gospel message.
You study the Gospel message.
You gather for worship.
You gather for Bible study.
You spend time with Jesus, because in doing so – his message – the message of the Gospel – moves…

From the pages of Scripture
To your eyes.
To your brain.
To your heart.

It’s like a beautiful diamond. You go down to the Jeweler’s and look at it in the light --
And if it’s cut well – no matter how you look at it – you see something magnificent.

It’s the same with the Gospel message.
Here’s I see God’s incredible compassion.
Here I look at God’s amazing power.
Here I look at the value of Christ’s redemption.
Here I enjoy the view of my atonement.
Here I see the mesmerizing perspective of peace with God.
And here I see the glories of heaven itself.

Bury it. 
Bury God’s kingdom deep in your heart.

** The audio has an extra story in it. You can find it here **
 
Conclusion:

I said the parable of the treasure fits well into a recent holiday.
But I wasn’t referring to Halloween.
Wednesday was also the 501st Anniversary of the Reformation. It’s the anniversary of a time when the treasure of Gospel was rediscovered.
Because the religious climate at that time – in the Christian church – was such that there was no treasure.

If you wanted to get God’s’ forgiveness, you needed to…

Do good things.
Say prayers to Mary.
Cross yourself in the right way.
Give money to charity.
And buy pieces of paper that said: “You are forgiven.”

And it was in that climate – in that treasure-less church that God re-revealed the TRUE treasure of the Gospel.
That Jesus is your Savior.
That in Him you are forgiven.
That by faith you are saved.

Friends, it’s 500 years later.
That treasure is at our fingertips again.
Don’t lose it.
Bury it deep within.

Amen.

Olympic glory.

For an athlete, I don’t know if there’s anything greater -- Standing at the top of the podium, flowers in hand, gold medal around the neck, TV cameras in your face and your nation’s anthem playing in the background.

But what’s it take to get there?
 
Meet Chloe Kim. She began snowboarding around age 4. After a few years of home practice, she went to her first ‘meet’, placed well and her dad realized she was really good. When she turned 8, he quit his job and dedicated himself to being her trainer. Together they went across the country. They trained every day and missed out on the ‘normal high school life’ in the hopes of getting that Olympic glory.

And she did. After 9 years of constant dedication. She won the Women’s Snowboarding Half Pipe. She got the gold medal. She stood on the podium. She received Olympic Glory!

But what about God’s kingdom?
What does it take to get heavenly glory?
                                       
Today we’re going to look at that question – and the answer might not be what you expect. Before we do, a prayer: Lord, strengthen us by the truth; your Word is truth. Open our eyes to see what you want us to see. Open our ears to hear what you want us to hear and open our hearts to believe what you would have us believe. Amen.
 
I. Jesus’ Glory

Today’s lesson comes from Mark 9. It’s shortly after the events on the Mount of Transfiguration. We talked about that last week. Jesus went up on a mountain top with Peter, James and John to do some pretty amazing thing. His face started glowing. His clothes started glowing. He spoke with two long dead prophets. He summoned an ethereal cloud and a voice from the cloud spoke, “This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to him.” (9:7)

It was amazing and also pretty clear proof that Jesus is God himself.
(If you missed this message, check it out on our website or our podcast. It’s a pretty incredible account from God’s Word.)
 
But for Peter, James and John – the eyewitnesses to these events? It must have been exhilarating.
 
I picture them walking with a spring in their step.
Their heads held high.
Their smiles from ear to ear:

“That was insane!!!”
“I know right?  There’s no way any of this was a trick. The only one who can do that kind of thing – is God!”
“And this is perfect. Because miracles like that are what we need to really get this Christianity movement going.”
“Yep. All he needs to do is duplicate that moment down at the synagogue and the people will stop giving him grief. They’ll have to believe. There’s no way that you can look at his divinely glowing face, watch him talking to long dead prophets, and hear that incredible voice speak – and NOT be convinced he is God’s one and only Son.”
“Do you think we should talk to him about it? It’s a good plan.”
 
But before they could approach Jesus, Jesus approached them.
He asked them to all gather on the side of the road.
He wanted to share with them his plan.
Just not the same one --

The Son of man is going to be delivered into the hands of men. They will kill him. (v.31)

Wait, what?

And Jesus kept talking, but the disciples didn’t really hear.
 
You have the ability to do amazing things. To make it so obvious that you are the Son of God – that you are God himself!
And your plan is to die?
You can make your face shine with heavenly brilliance -- And you’d prefer it drip with blood?
You can summon the dead to life itself – and you’d prefer to let people summon your life to death?
You had God’s incredible voice vouch for you– but you’d prefer to have angry men vouch for your crucifixion?
I thought what happened on the mountain was insane; but, no…this…is insane.
 
And maybe you can see why they’re thinking like that. Look at what Jesus says, The Son of man, will be delivered into the hands of men. That verb: “Delivered.” That’s something that you use for inanimate objects. The UPS delivers a package. The USPS delivers the mail. The farmer delivers some eggs. The Organic Dairyman delivers some milk. The pizza guy delivers pizza. The late pizza guy delivers cold pizza.

You deliver inanimate barely important objects.

But…Jesus…was saying that he would be delivered.
Handed over.
Treated like some piece of property.

Jesus who created and own all things would be treated like a common eBay shipment.
 
 That’s humiliating.
 
And when he was in their hands – it wasn’t much better. He would suffer and be killed. Think about that.
The Creator of life itself killed at the hands of his creation.
The Maker of all things made to suffer horrible things.
The one who maintains our heart beats – allowing his heartbeat to stop at the hands of the very heart beats he is maintaining.
 
This is humiliating.

And Jesus knows this is going to happen. We know he does because this takes place about a year before it happens. And yet – if you follow the story – Jesus still goes to Jerusalem. He does not hide from those angry men. He delivers himself to his murderers.

Why? If that was me –
I’d run.
I’d hide.
I’d get out of Dodge (Wherever Dodge is).

But not Jesus.
He keeps going.
He makes the plan happen.
He undergoes extreme humiliation.

Why?

The Bible says this, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3: 23) In other words, if you want a divine, gold medal from God – if you want to rise to the podium in his heavenly kingdom. If you want to be in his heavenly graces with the national anthem of the Kingdom of God playing in the background, you just have to be sinless.
 
It's like Shaun White having to get a 9.75 score to win. Only your score needs to be perfect!
100%
No sin.

Not hard right?
Unless…you’ve sinned already?
Ugh.
Then, you’ve fallen short.

But the passage continues, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and are justified freely by God’s grace in Christ Jesus.” (3:23b)
 
In other words:
Jesus did live perfectly.
Then, he changed score cards with you.
He switched his perfect 10 with your -464.

He took the fate that comes with falling short.
And he gave you the glory that comes with rising above.

This was not an accident.
This was part of Jesus’ plan.
Because Jesus is more concerned with your glory than his.

He wants you in his kingdom.
He wants you to experience heaven.
He wants you to dwell in God’s eternal glory.
And if he had to humble himself in order to earn that for you – so be it.
 
II. A Disciple’s Glory 

Back to the disciples. Jesus had just finished his soliloquy about his death, but the disciples were too confused to really ask him about it.

Still…you might expect them to discuss it.
You might expect them to discuss this incredible sacrifice.
To be impressed by this incredible humility.

Nope.

They were conversing, but not about Jesus:

“Listen Peter. I don’t care if you got to walk on the water. You fell in. I wouldn’t have because I’m better than you.”
“Yea, right Philip! You didn’t even get invited up the mountain. You’re obviously way less important than me.”
“But dude – you tried to build a tent for God. How dumb is that? The only high ranking you have is a high ranking for foolishness.”
“So what --- at least I’m bold. You haven’t even done anything worthy of mention if some book about us was written.”
“He called me Peter. Peter means rock. What did he call you? Yellow bellied fisherman?
“Na uh.”
“Ya huh.”
“Na uh.”
“Ya huh…times infinity.”

The argument continued until they reached their destination. It quieted down as they greeted their host for the night and moved into the living room. After all the disciples made themselves comfy – ignoring the tension between them, Jesus entered. He had a question:

“What were you talking about on the road?”

And this is one of those father/child moments. Because he knows what they’re talking about. And they know what they’re talking about. And they also know – it wasn’t a very impressive conversation. It especially looks bad after Jesus had just told them about dying for them.

So…they didn’t answer.
They fidgeted.
They stared at the ceiling hoping Jesus would forget he had asked a question.

Jesus spoke: “Anyone who wants to be first must be the very last and the servant of all.” (v.35)
As in put others first.
As in serve others first.
As in view others better than yourself.
As in worry more about their glory than yours.

But to really get the point across. Jesus looked around the room. Over in the corner – a young child. On the ground. In the dirt. Runny nose and food stains down the front of his shirt.

Jesus smiled.

Jesus lifted him up and put him on his knee.
“Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcome me does not welcome me, but the One who sent me.” (v.37)
 
Do you see Jesus’ point? It’s totally backwards from this world’s perspective.
This world says “Be the best. And if you want to get to be the best, be kind to the popular, the scholars, the politicians, the rich, the famous…”

But Jesus? He says differently.

Imagine putting Jesus’ teaching into a practical scenario. You’re hosting a dinner at your home. In walks a bigwig in town. A politician. He’s in a three-piece suit, drives a Lexus and has a bright designer tie held on by a solid gold tie tack.
His personal security tells you that he’s hungry for some pate.

As you are heading to the kitchen to get the important treat for the important guest – a tug on your pant leg. It’s your 2-year-old nephew. He’s stinky. His hands are grubby. He doesn’t have a gold tie tack, but a slimy pacifier. His lip quivers – his universal sign for hunger.

Who do you feed first?
Important, popular, rich politician?
Or slimy, grubby, crying toddler?

Jesus says:
Ignore the caviar;
It’s time to get the Cheerios.

Because glory in God’s kingdom comes in serving others.
Glory in God’s kingdom comes in humility.

It was true about Jesus.
It’s true about you too.
 
Starting with salvation! Salvation doesn’t come to the one who says, “I’m pretty awesome. I’m the best.” It comes to the one who says, “I’m not that awesome. Jesus is the best. Jesus help me. Jesus save me.”

And it’s the same way in his church. Our goal is not to be the “BEST” at church. We don’t serve just so that we can get our names in 12-point Times New Roman font in the bulletin. No. We serve because Jesus loves us and we serve all others because Jesus loves us.

It’s a different approach than the world’s approach.
But that’s because it’s God’s approach.
 
III. WHAT NOW?
 
A few things to keep in mind about humility fellow disciples:
 
1. Strive to be the VERY Last

That’s an important adverb that Jesus adds on. He says, “Be the very last.” Not “Close to the last” or “farther back than most” but the “very last”

That means, as Jesus’ disciples, we serve all that we come into contact with.
Not just the people we like.
Not just the people who are rich.
Not just the people who are popular and cool.

Jesus desires us to serve all above ourselves.

That means serving the little child.
It means serving the poor.
It means serving the lonely.
It means serving the sick, the sinner, and the jailed.
It means serving the people that the world won’t serve because we aren’t a part of this world – we are a part of God’s world.
 
2. Serve in Jesus’ Name

Because sometimes it’s very hard to serve others. Especially when they are unthankful, rude and repeatedly awful.

But we don’t serve people because they’ve earned it.
We serve people because Jesus earned it.
And by it – I mean glory for you and me through his death on the cross!
Remember – we had fallen short and he had risen above, but he switched places with us to serve us and bring us glory.
And now he says, “You have glory. You will be in my kingdom. I did this for you – so won’t you give glory to others?”

In short – Make Jesus your motivation to serve others.
 
3. Remember the Last Part of Jesus’ prophecy

The disciples seemed to miss an important part of Jesus’ prediction. They heard the suffering part. They heard the delivered over to men part. They heard the dying part.

But that wasn’t all he predicted. Jesus said, “The Son of man will be delivered over to the hands of men, he will suffer and die and on the third day he will rise again.” (Mk. 9:31)

The disciples missed that hope then.
But years later they would remember it.
They had seen it fulfilled.
They had seen him completely lack glory on the cross…
And be completely surrounded by it at the empty tomb.

Remember that. Jesus suffered humiliation, but it resulted in glory.
Serve in his kingdom.
Humble yourselves.
Because that same Jesus will bring you that same glory. Amen. 

Have you ever asked your kid to clean his room in the middle of video gaming? It never works very well. 

I’m coming. Just after this level. 
I’ll be there soon just a few more minutes. 
Mom! I’m battling Bowser for control of the Mushroom Kingdom! If I don’t help now, the toadstools will be under his control forever. How can you talk about dirty sneakers at a time like this? 

Of course – the same thing happens when you’re a grown-up.

Ever heard of a Honey-Do-List? What amazes me is how long honey do lists can become. They become long for two reasons. (1) One spouse will keep adding to it. Fix the toaster. Paint the garage. I think the heater’s broken! Could you set up a hanger system in my closet for all of my pocket scarves? (2) The other spouse will come up with reasons not to fix it. I’m going fishing. I’ve got work to do. Somebody’s gotta watch this football game, it won’t watch itself. 

It makes me think: Putting things off is human nature. Procrastination is a key part of being a human. 

But what about when procrastination makes its way into your spiritual life? 

Good thing?
Bad thing?
Funny thing?
No big deal thing? 

Today we’re continuing our series called Follow. It’s about following Jesus. Our focal point this morning is urgency. We want to learn why following Jesus is so urgent and how we can be urgent about Jesus in 2017. Before we do that, join me in a prayer: O Lord, strengthen us by the truth; your Word is truth. Open our eyes to see what you want us to see. Open our ears to hear what you want us to hear. Open our hearts to believe what you would have us believe. Amen.

I.    The Urgency of Near

The main lesson comes from Matthew 4. This takes place after our lesson from last week. Remember? John had pointed at Jesus and said, “Look! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” (John 1:29) The heavens opened at Jesus’ baptism. A dove landed on his shoulder and a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love, with him I am well pleased.” (Matthew 3:15-17) Highlights. 

That was a highlight for John. He had beheld the reality of his message – that a Savior was coming – with clear eyes. He must have felt pretty good. 

Then, a lowlight. John, motivated by what he has seen in Jesus, keeps preaching. He preaches to the tax collectors. He preaches to prostitutes. He preaches to Pharisees. He even begins to preach to King Herod – the guy in charge of Judah. And Herod is interested in him. He wants to hear what this crazy preacher will say. He loves to hear him talk about those Pharisees. He loves to see those religious officials squirm. He loves John’s message. 

Until – it hits home.

John turns and says to Herod, “And you? Stop sleeping with your brother’s wife. You aren’t married to her. She isn’t married to you. That sexual immorality. That’s one of the commandments: You shall not commit adultery. What you’re doing is wrong. It’s wrong and if you don’t change, you’re going to hell!”

Harsh? Sure. 
Wrong? No. 

Can you imagine Herod sweating? He’s embarrassed. (Thank goodness there wasn’t Twitter at that time.) He thinks it over. I can’t repent. That would make me look weak—like some crazy preacher has control over me. So instead Herod has John arrested and thrown into prison. Herod thinks, “There I’ve dealt with that. No more grand revolutionary spiritual voices for people to follow.”

And things are quiet. 

Until…Jesus. 

When Jesus heard that John had been put in prison, he withdrew to Galilee…From that time on Jesus began to preach, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.” (Matthew 4:12,17)

What do you know about heaven? The Bible doesn’t provide a full architectural schematic of heaven. There aren’t any illustrations. You can’t find heaven on Zillow. Google Earth does not allow you to zoom in and see Peter’s car parked on a side street near the holy donut shop.

But the Bible does say this:  In heaven, there is no sadness. There is no mourning. There is no sin. There is no pain. There is no hunger. There is no thirst. There is no loneliness. There is no evil. There is no cancer. There is no AIDS. There is no terror. There is no racism. There is no death. (Revelation 21) 
There is God. There is his love. There is joy. There is love. There is family. There is friends. There is a peaceful forever existence in the happiness of eternity. (Revelation 21) 

Sounds awesome, right?  

Ok Pastor. How do I get there? Again – Heaven isn’t physical. Rand McNally doesn’t know the way. You can ask Siri and she will not know. Heaven isn’t a place you drive to, walk to, or ride a motorcycle to. 

Heaven is spiritual.
Heaven is invisible.
Heaven is a place you go after this life. 
Heaven is a place you go when you die. 
Heaven is place you go for eternity.

Which means – God has to get you there. And since God is the one who does the transporting, understand that God is the one deciding whether you can come or not. 

It’s kind of like driving in a car. I know that some people have rules when you ride in their car. No sodas. No chips. No food and drink. No melty chocolate.  Why? Well – they probably have had kids spill all over the carpets as they hit a bump on the road. They would like a clean car. It is their car, so makes sense that they get to set the rules for it. I remember once trying to get into the car of my friend’s mom and she wouldn’t let me until I took off my dirty, muddy, shoes. I couldn’t be mad. It was her car, her rules. God’s the same way. Although it doesn’t bother God whether or not you are drinking a Coca-Cola when he comes to get you. There is something that God doesn’t want in heaven: 

SIN. 

Do not be deceived: Evildoers will enter into the kingdom of God. (1 Corinthians 6:9-11)

Back to Jesus. Jesus said, “Repent for the kingdom of heaven is near.” It means this – Abandon sin! Turn away from sin and follow God. Stop following lust. Stop following greed. Stop following pride. Stop following gossip. Stop following your vengeful desire to yell at your wife. Stop sin and turn to God. Because sin has no place in the kingdom of heaven. God doesn’t want sin in heaven. If you have sin, God doesn’t want you in heaven.

Pause with me for a moment. Here’s what the devil tempts us to think when you see that: Ok. I’ll work on it – eventually. I’m sure I won’t die for quite some time. I’m a young person. I just reached the age that you’re able to rent a car. I’ve got a long life left. Now? I need to worry about this life. I need to work on my job. I need to work on money. I need to work on my house. I need to work on my family. I need to work on my retirement package. I need to enjoy retirement. 

I’ll deal with God later. 
Look at what Jesus said again. Notice he did not say, “The Kingdom of God is later.”  
He didn’t say: It’s not even close.
He didn’t say: It’s way in the distance. 
He didn’t say: Don’t you worry about it. You have plenty of time. 
He said, “It’s near.” 

As in, close. 
As in, soon.
As in, you could die in the next year, in the next month, 15 minutes after worship. 
As in you could choke on a cookie (God forbid) after worship in the fellowship hall! 

You don’t know when it will be time. You only know that it’s near. That means you need to follow Jesus – NOW! 

Do you sense the urgency? 

II.    The Problem of Procrastination

Maybe you’re thinking:  

Pastor, this is a young person's’ thing. When people get older, they get wiser and they come to their senses. 

Here's the thing. I’ve met people of all ages. Teens who have said, “Later.” People in their twenties: Later. People in their thirties: Later. People in their forties: later. People in their sixties: later. People at the end of life – at the retirement homes I visit – where I don’t even know if I’ll see them next week – that I ask to come learn about Jesus with - Later. 

It’s always later. This means that the problem isn’t maturity. 
It’s priorities. 

A couple of years back I saw that a friend of mine on Facebook was coming to Raleigh. It was a friend from the Seattle area where I was an intern pastor. A pretty good friend. We had gone to their house and hung out — plenty of times. 

But this time I only saw it on Facebook. She knew that I was in Raleigh so…why didn’t she reach out? I left a note on the Facebook wall – If you’re in the area, come visit! She said, “Sure. I might be busy, but maybe I can get away.” A week later I saw a photo on Facebook of her relaxing and drinking an iced tea at Beasley’s downtown – I left a passive aggressive comment, “That place is awesome.”

Nothing. No response. Didn’t seek to hang out. Didn’t come to church. 

Suddenly, I came to a harsh realization. I just wasn’t that important. It wasn’t a matter of too busy or unable. But not important. It's the same problem when it comes to following Jesus. The reality is that if you aren’t following Jesus, then he isn’t that important to you. 
​
You can say, I just don’t have the time. But if Jesus is important enough, you’ll make the time.  
I don’t have the time for Bible study – He’s not that important. 
I’m too busy for church – He’s not that important.
I’ve got too much going on to be baptized – He’s not that important.

If Jesus was important to you, you’d do everything possible to make time for him. 
If you haven’t, it’s your fault. Not your boss’ scheduling. Not your health. Not the weather. 

Yours. 

If you don’t follow God, you don’t value Him. 
If you don’t value Him, that’s sin. 
If you’ve got sin, you can’t get into heaven.
If you can’t get into heaven, repent!  
If you repent, do so now – because the kingdom of God is near!

III.     Near (Revisited) 

Near. Let’s revisit that phrase, “Repent for the kingdom of heaven is near.” We’ve been talking about that temporally – in relationship to time. Any day. Any minute. Any hour. That’s exactly what Jesus meant. 

But sometimes there’s more than meets the eye with Jesus. Sometimes Jesus means more. Sometimes the answer is so much closer than you think. Maybe you’ve heard this passages before: Jesus said, “I am the way – no one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6) Put that next to the last passage.  “The Kingdom of heaven is near.” Do you see it?

If you were the listening to Jesus speak, then, yes, the kingdom of heaven was near – you could die any time – it’s temporal.  But it’s also spatial. As in – the entrance to the kingdom of heaven is a few feet in front of you.  He’s speaking with you. He’s sitting by you. He’s Jesus.

Remember what we heard John say about Jesus last week – “Look! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” That’s what Jesus came to do on the cross. Because the reality is that every human being has sin – sin that they can’t remove on their own – sin that disqualifies them from heaven. 

Jesus came to wash us from our sins. Jesus came to clean us up. Jesus came to make us ready for heaven.

Here’s why: Jesus understood urgency. Jesus understood that if he didn’t fix the problem of sin then you would not make it to heaven with him. Jesus understood that he had to live perfectly when you couldn’t, die innocently in your place, and rise triumphantly for all of your sins. Jesus knew that he had to do this in order to get you into heaven. He knew it and in fact -- It was a priority to him. 
You were a priority to him. 
Do you believe this? 
Do you believe in Jesus?  Are you ready to follow him? 
Then, there’s something very important that you need to hear: 

If you haven’t made Jesus a priority, you’re forgiven.  
If others things have been more important than following him, you’re forgiven. 
If you follow him – even if you’ve never followed him til right now, you are forgiven. 
You will be in his kingdom.  

IV.    What Now?

How do you react to this awesome message?  How do you make following Jesus a more important part of your life?
​
(1)    Be Willing to Leave your Nets

Look at the account that takes place right after we hear about Jesus’ ministry: 18 As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. 19 “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.” 20 At once they left their nets and followed him.

Did you see that? They left their nets. That’s not a big deal if you’ve never touched a fish in your life and can’t tell the difference between a catfish and a guppy. But for these guys – it was everything! They left their nets – their livelihood. They left what made them money and followed him. 

Do the same. Money is important, but not important enough to jeopardize your eternal future. Not important enough to jeopardize heaven. 

If you are so busy, that you don’t have anytime to actively follow Jesus – make a change. Talk to your boss. Get Sundays off. Get a weekday off to join a small group. Turn off your work email at home and turn on your Bible. 

Might you make less money? Might you not get promoted?  Of course. That’s the reality of a world that doesn’t see the importance in following Jesus. But there’s eternal value in following Jesus. He will strengthen your faith in his Word. He will encourage you through his people. He will promote you – all the way to heaven. 

(2)    Be Willing to Leave Your Family

Look at the next verse: 21 Going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John. They were in a boat with their father Zebedee, preparing their nets. Jesus called them, 22 and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him. 

These guys go a step farther. They leave their family – not that their dad was necessarily against their leaving or putting up a big stink about it – but it’s still a challenge to leave family. And sometimes family can be one of the biggest challenges to following Jesus:

You’re still believing that? I don’t like how it’s changed you. I think you should give it up.
You’re going to church? Can’t you stay home and have breakfast in bed with me instead?
You can’t come hang out because you’re serving God? That’s crazy! If that’s how you’re going to act, don’t bother spending time with me. 

That’s hard. 

But God isn’t saying – Have nothing to do with your family. We can see them. We love them. They love us. But God is saying don’t make them more important than following Jesus. 

Because they don’t love you more than Jesus. 
Because they didn’t give up their lives for you, Jesus did that. 
Because your family can’t get you to heaven, only Jesus can. 

(3)    Embrace your New Family

Still that’s hard. How do you do leave behind family? 

With your new family. 

That’s what happened to the disciples. They became brothers. They became brothers and sisters. That was key because they were travelling around Asia minor spreading God’s Word. We still use that today when we talk about each other. 

This is important. Because if you’re the only one in your family who believes in Jesus – that’s tough. It’s hard. But you’ve got family here. People who love you. People who care about you. People who will encourage you to follow Jesus all the way to heaven. Lean on them.

And if you’ve got lots of believing family – understand that about people who don’t – it’s hard. They need you to be their family. You can come here and catch up with your family sure. But branch out! There are others here who need your encouragement. They need your uplifting. Be someone to lean on. 

Hebrews says this, “Let us encourage each other—and all the more as we see the Day approaching.” Do you hear the urgency? It isn’t just in following Jesus, but urgency in encouraging one another…because you never know when Jesus will come back. Be ready. Amen.

It was Halloween about 25 years ago. I was dressed up as a fisherman. I had on my dad’s vest. I had my dad’s fisherman’s hat. I had my bright green, Oscar the Grouch fishing pole with a bright red and yellow bobber. I was carrying a mini-bucket in order to collect my candy. 

It was going as expected. I went up to a house. I knocked on the door. I said, “Trick or treat.” I got a Tootsie Roll and moved on. 

But then, we approached a house that was different. The candy was located outside. It was being held by a giant mannequin in a grey snowsuit with a hockey mask on. There was a sign attached to his suit that said, “Have one.” 

I thought – “This is unexpected. It’s a little different. But it’s easier. I’ll be saving myself about 15 steps all the way to the front of the door and the awkward fifteen seconds waiting to see if anyone came. If more people did this, I could get more bang for my buck, save time and get more candy.” This is a nice surprise!

Then, I walked up to the mannequin. I reached out my hand. I grabbed a Butterfinger. And…

 YAAHHH!!!

The mannequin reached out and grabbed my hand. I turned tailed, dropped the Butterfinger and ran as fast as my little Cabella boots could take me. 

That was a scary surprise. 

Today we are starting our sermon series it’s all about surprises. It’s called Surprising Grace. Our goal is to examine God’s grace through the lens of God’s Word and learn some surprising truths about His Grace. Some terrifying. Some wonderful. Before we take a look at some of the first surprises in God’s Word. Let’s say a prayer: O Lord, strengthen us by the truth; your Word is truth. Open our eyes to see what you want us to see. Open our ears to hear what you want us to hear. Open our hearts to believe what you would have us believe. Amen. 

I. A Scary Price 

Today we want to start our series by talking cost. (I know that sounds like a political ad), but I think it’s real important to talk cost when you’re talking about buying anything. 

If you’re buying a home, you want to talk cost. Sure, you look at the floorplan, the rooms, the updated hardwood, the open concept living room, the backyard, and the location. But you’ve also got to talk cost. What’s the down payment? What’s the homeowner’s insurance? What’s the tax value? How much will renovations cost? Can you get the NC State Wolfpack washer and dryer set for free or not? 

It’s the same with God’s grace. It’s filled with value. In God’s grace, we get forgiveness of sins, peace with God, the promise of heaven, a joy filled heart, the assurance that we are God’s children and a beautiful connection with people of all races, ages, and social status. 

Those are some pretty awesome things. Those pretty, divinely, awesome things. 

As your grandpa would say, “Sounds expensive.” 

But God doesn’t deal in dollars and cents. That’s physical. 

He deals in righteousness and perfection. That’s divine. In fact, God puts this rather simple yet expensive cost on His eternal and divine gifts – his Grace.  The price tag is found in Leviticus 4:2: 

Be holy as I the Lord you God am holy. 

Holy seems like a key word then. Holy is what you’re going to need to get to heaven. Holy is what your gonna need to have peace with God. 

What’s holy mean then? 
Does that mean you go to church a lot? 
Does it mean that you wear nice clothes to church?
Does it mean that you have a nice, holy, smile on all the time? 

Nope. Holy means “without sin.” It means “without defects.” It means “without sin.” 

Jesus helps us out with this when he quotes this passage and uses a Greek word that means “perfect” to translate “holy.” He says, “Be perfect as your Heavenly Father is perfect.”

So are you perfect? You’re going to need to be perfect to get to heaven. 

Understand this. You can’t trick God. You can’t convince him that you're trying hard and doing your best and your good intentions are perfection. God knows a bogus holy payment when he sees it. That’d be like trying to take some Monopoly money to buy a house. It won’t work. 

Let’s be real: What do you have lying around? What is in your spiritual piggy bank? I imagine it’s a lot like mine. I don’t have any perfection. I have imperfection. 

I have a thing called Sin.     

The Bible says this, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23) 

The word for sin there is interesting. The Bible was written in Greek and the Greek word translated sin here is one of the most popular words for sin in the New Testament. It’s hamartia.  Hamartia means to miss the mark or to be off target. 

It’s like darts. Ever played darts?  Your goal is to aim your dart and try to throw it onto the bullseye…or at least somewhere on the board. If you miss, you don’t score any points. If you miss the board entirely, you are a laughingstock to your friends.

That’s sin. God has given us a benchmark for our lives. He says, “Don’t lust. Don’t hate. Don’t be a jerk. Be king. Be loving. Help others.”

When we don’t do that, when we sin…it’s like we’re taking a dart, aiming carefully, and hitting the drywall about 3 feet to the left of the dartboard. 

Now a bargaining man might ask – What’s my sin worth? I might not be able to get all of it, but how much of God’s grace can I get by offering him my sin? 

Ever heard of Kelley’s Blue Book? It’s a place online where you type in your car make, model, and year. You let them know what condition it’s in. You tell them if has a Smartphone port, a CD play or a (gasp) tape deck. You let them know if you have made any upgrade and whether or not those stains from that time your kid spilled red Kool Aid on the back seat are permanent. You enter in all that information and the website provides you with the appropriate value of your car. 

Sin doesn’t work like that. You can’t type in the amount of sin, type of sin, year of sin and expect a price that it’s worth to come back to you. 
Kelley’s Blue book for sin is called the Bible. 
And the Bible places the same value on sin regardless of size, shape, and variety. 

Romans 6:23: The wages of sin is death.  

Let’s break that passages apart. First, zero in on the word wages. That means the payment. It’s a word that’s used to described what you get paid for raking the leaves – what you get paid for crafting a cabinet – what you get paid for working 40 hours a week at your job. A wage is what you get paid for what you do. It’s what you earn. 

What is sin worth? What do we get paid? 

Death. 

Pay careful attention to that. Because the wages of sin is NOT a $20 offering. The wages of sin is NOT saying the Lord’s Prayer 10 times. The wages of sin is not 15 good deeds. It’s not 10 hail Mary’s. It’s not trying, really, really, really, hard for the next couple of weeks. 

The wages of sin is death. 

And it doesn’t matter what kind of sin it is. 

Theft? Death.
Violence? Death.
Adultery? Death. 
Racism? Death.
Hatred? Death.
Stealing a pencil from work? Death.
Calling your husband a loser? Death.
Not holding the door for the guy behind you because you don’t feel like it? Death. 
Taking a second glance at the secretary who is not your wife, but is looking real good today? Death. 
Checking your phone at church to see if your Fantasy team is set for today, because that’s more exciting to you than singing God’s praises? Death. 

It’s all the same and it’s all worth the same. Death. 

And notice this – Each sin is worth one death. One sin costs one death. Two sins cost two deaths. Seventeen sins costs seventeen deaths. One hundred-forty seven sins costs one hundred forty seven deaths. If you’re like me (and you are) then you have so many sins that you can’t even count. 

An infinite amount.
An eternal amount.
Payable with eternal death. 

Can you imagine your bill? Can you imagine how impossible this is? Because sin is all we’ve got. A piggy bank filled with sin. A bank account bulging with imperfect. A fully funded H.S.A. of death. This means that the surprising and terrifying truth about God’s grace is this:

You can’t pay for God’s grace.  

You haven’t in the past. You can’t right now. You will never be able to in the future. 

You can’t pay for God’s grace. 

II. An Incredible Gift 

But…

That’s a keyword in Romans 6:23. “But.” It means there is more to come. It means the thought is going to change. It means there is a solution. It means there is someone who can help us. It means keep reading…

The wages of sin is death, BUT the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus. 

Do you know what a Shopkin is? It’s these little plastic appliance action figures that kids love.  

But here’s the deal – They cost a bit of money. And if, like any good Shopkins collector, your kid wants them all – they are going to have to turn to you for help. Mommy, can you buy this? Daddy, I don’t have the money? 

Of course, the same thing is true when you’re an adult. You ask someone with the money to help you pay for something you don’t have the payment for.

Mom, help me with this car payment? 
Dad, can you give me money for the new TV? 
Credit card company, can you help me get these things that I don’t need? 

It’s the same thing with all of God’s heavenly blessings.
We can’t pay for it for us.
We need someone to pay hundreds of thousands of deaths for us. 
Someone who doesn’t have his own sins to pay for.
Someone who has an infinite life funding his death. 
Someone like Jesus. 

The gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus.

That’s why he died! Jesus didn’t die because he owed God a death for his own sins. The Bible calls him perfect. The Bible calls him without sin. 

Jesus didn’t die for his sins, but for your sins. Jesus died because you owed God a death for your sins. 
That’s why he went through a horrific and terrifying, Halloween-esque death on the cross. It’s why he bled and hung with nails in his hands and through his feet. It’s why a crown of thorns was pressed into his skull. It’s why his lungs slowly stopped breathing.

Jesus was paying for sin. He was earning God’s grace. Jesus was buying your way to heaven. And his death was more than your average human death. It isn’t like he just died for one of your sins. He was the Son of God. He was the Divine Lord of heaven and earth himself. His death is worth a lot more than a normal human death. He’s got God blood. It paid for your first sin, your last sin, and the hundreds of thousands of sins in between. His death paid for your sin and your sin and your sin and your sin and your sin. 

Want proof? Jesus came back to life! If he hadn’t paid for your sins, then, he would still be dead – still dying – still paying….like a Credit Card debt with interest that just keeps multiplying, he would have stayed dead. 

But he didn’t stay dead. Three days later, he rose. That cross is empty!

This means that Jesus did paid for your sins. 
He paid for all your sins.
He paid for every, last one of your sins. 
Jesus paid the steep price for God’s grace.

Our first truth was terrifying. You cannot pay for God’s grace. But here’s something amazing. God’s grace is already paid for which means -

God’s grace is free. That’s what our passages says, “The gift of God is eternal life.” If it’s a gift, that means it doesn’t cost anything. 

Think about your grandma. Maybe she has made you a nice sweater before or crocheted you a blanket or a pair of socks. If you open up your gift and look at the socks, and say “Thank You” and her response is, “That’ll be $42.50.” IT’S NOT A GIFT! It’s a wage. 

God doesn’t do that. God paid for it all. The gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus. 

The gift of God.
Is.
Free.

That’s exactly what God gives you in Jesus. 
He gives you forgiveness. 
He gives you peace. 
He gives you heaven. 

III. What Now? 

1) Stop Trying to Pay for the Gift!

Because it’s really quite rude. God bought you the gift. God paid for it all. God brings it to you in His Word. 

And we say, “Nah, God. I think I’d rather try to pay for it by myself. I don’t trust your money. I don’t trust it’ll be enough.” 

We’re the ones who don’t have enough. God is the only one who does. Stop trying to pay for God’s grace and simply rejoice in it!

There’s a change in the way you live your life. The burden is gone. There is no eternal debt over your head. You don’t have to sit there each day thinking, “I gotta be good. I gotta be good. I gotta be good. I gotta be…ahhh! I missed a chance to be good because I was too busy trying to remember to be good! That’s selfish. It’s another sin. Now I’ve got even more good to be doing!” 

That’s foolish. It’s impossible. 

It’d be like throwing away an all-expense paid gift card to Applebee’s. Racking up a $780-dollar bill on ½ price apps. But then, doubting that the gift card will work. Throwing it into the garbage and trying to pay with what’s in your wallet. 

NOTHING.

If you do that, you’re in trouble.
And if don’t trust Jesus, you will be in trouble. 

2) Have Faith in Jesus. 

But God is God.
God doesn’t lie. 
He doesn’t change his mind on payment.
He doesn’t offer incomplete gifts. 

He says, For God so loved the world that he gave His One and Only Son – that’s Jesus – that whoever believes in Him – and what he did! That he lived perfectly, died innocently, and rose triumphantly to pay every last bit of God’s grace for you – shall not perish, but have eternal life.

If you trust him, God’s grace is yours. As expensive as it is, as impossible as it is for you to earn – it is yours.

That’s life changing. 

A while back I met a woman at the hospital. Maria. I stumbled into her on an elevator and we exchanged pleasantries. 

How are you?
I’m fine; how are you?
How was the person that you came to see? 
What treatment did the doctor’s recommend? 

And so on…

I said to her before I left, “May God bless you and your family with healing.” I meant it to be nice – but she began to frown.

“God couldn’t be nice to me. I don’t deserve it.”

I stopped her. I asked her to explain. We sat down and I listened. 

About how God couldn’t love her. 
About how God had seen her do awful sins. 
About how God had seen her do drugs and sleep around and cheat on her husband and even…try to take her own life.
She knew it was wrong. Oh, she knew it was wrong. She understood sin. 
Because of it, she couldn’t ever earn God’s blessing.

She couldn’t earn his grace. 

And I looked into her eyes. I looked past the tears. I smiled and said, 

“You’re right. You can’t….But Jesus can.”

The wages of sin is death. But the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus. Amen. 

​Brothers and sisters, how would you feel if myself or any pastor started a sermon like this: “Look at how many seats are filled today.  Look at the crowd who has come to hear the word of the Lord.  I am absolutely livid that there are so many people who think they have a right to be here in God’s presence!”
Brothers and sisters, I don’t really feel this way about you or about our Lord.  Hopefully it struck you as absolutely un-Christian, and rightly so.  But it’s pretty similar to what we’re about to hear.  When we look at Jonah here in a minute, we better be offended at his attitude toward what happened.  But before we start lining up to hurl rocks in his direction, we also better take a close look at our own hearts and make sure his attitude isn’t still alive and kicking within ourselves, showing itself in ways that aren’t so obvious and absurd.

So to start with, let’s go back to our final chapter of Jonah.  It’s been a real up and down ride through his story so far, but we left off on a pretty high note last week.  Things seemed to have turned around and come out well. In fact, it was a satisfying conclusion to the whole mess and would’ve made any modern Hollywood producer happy.  Jonah had been called to come preach a message of repentance to the city of Nineveh.  He ran away.  God pursued him.  Jonah gave up running and threw himself on God’s mercy, and God had mercy.  God rescued him and brought him home to try again.  And it looked like Jonah learned his lesson.  He went to Nineveh and he preached the message.  “40 more days and Nineveh will be overturned!”  And in a miracle greater than the fish, the people listened.  All of them, from the king down to the smallest child repented and called on God for mercy.  And God relented.  They would not be destroyed.  Jonah’s work bore the kind of fruit we dream about.  God’s mission through Jonah had succeeded.

And now in our last chapter, we finally get some psychological insight into what’s been driving Jonah this whole time.  Up until now we’ve kind of had to guess what’s been going through his head as he acted.  Now we get to see what’s really been going on.  It is a shocking contrast when you come across it.  Especially when you remember that these chapter and verse numbers we see in our Bibles are not something God gave us but just a human invention to help us find certain parts.  So let’s ignore those numbers and just look at the flow of the account.  We end up reading this, “When God saw what [the Ninevites] did and how they turned from their evil ways, he had compassion and did not bring upon them the destruction he had threatened.  But Jonah was greatly displeased and became angry.”
​
What?  You want to run that by me again Jonah?  Your mission was an unprecedented, miraculous success, and you’re angry?  In fact, if you’ll permit me, I’d like to take a moment to give you an insight into the original language here in the Hebrew of this line.  It comes out much stronger.  It’s not good English, but a literal read of the Hebrew might sound something like this, “But this was evil to Jonah, a great evil and it burned to him.”  Do you see that?  This didn’t just upset Jonah some, he literally felt that what God did for the Ninevites was evil.  An utter miscarriage of justice we might say!  And that last bit, “it burned to him.”  This isn’t the kind of anger where you just sit kind of fuming quietly in the corner, this is the kind of angry where the blood floods your face and you get red and hot from it.  He was foaming at the mouth furious over this.

We can just picture Jonah now, going through the streets, going through the city, proclaiming his message.  And he notices a change.  People are starting to wear that unbearable sackcloth.  They’re shouting to the Lord begging mercy.  They’re sitting in the dust praying relentlessly with tears in their eyes.  And he knows what this means.  They’re listening to God’s message.  And he knows what’s coming next.  Or more to the point, he knows what’s not coming next.  He figures out that God is going to forgive these people instead of destroying them, and we can just imagine the scowl that clouds his face as he continues his mission.
 
Why?  He tells God exactly why.  At the end he prays to the Lord and says.  “I told you, God, I told you this would happen!  This is exactly what I was afraid of from the start.  You wondered why I ran away so quickly when you called me the first time?  This is why!  I know you.  You’re a compassionate God, you’re so slow to anger and quick to forgive.  I knew if I came out here and warned these people, they’d show some kind of repentance and you’d change your mind and let them go.  Haven’t you been paying attention?  Don’t you know what these people have done?  Haven’t you seen how violent and sexually immoral they are?  They should be destroyed!  Good riddance!  But no, you had me come and warn them and since they feel sorry about it and apologized you’re going to let them off the hook without any repercussions.  This is so infuriating I would rather be dead than see it.”

We can see now that Jonah didn’t run away at the beginning because he was afraid of persecution.  He wasn’t afraid of the enormity of his task.  He wasn’t intimidated by the work involved or by having to carry it out himself, alone against a half-million people.  He wasn’t afraid to tell all those people they were bad people and were going to die for it.  No, he was afraid that he would succeed.  He was afraid that they would listen.  He hated those godless Ninevites and the last thing he wanted was for them to be spared God’s wrath.  So he ran the other direction.  And we can see now that even when God turned him around and sent him back, he still didn’t want his mission to work.  Even now, after God decides to relent, we will see he still hopes that maybe it’ll change back.

God is patient and compassionate, of course, and his response to Jonah is a simple, calming rebuke, “Do you have any right to be angry?” he asks.

Jonah apparently has no response to this.  Instead, his appointed task complete, he storms out of the city like a pouting child leaving the room.  And does he go home?  Does he put this whole thing behind him and go back to his daily life?  No.  He feels so strongly about this that he goes out east of the city and finds a place where he can sit and look out at the city.  Forty days wasn’t up yet.  Maybe, just maybe God will change his mind back and wreck the place.  He builds himself a little makeshift shelter.  And he sits in the desert sun and he waits and he watches.  He is so single-minded in wanting these people punished that his life is literally brought to a standstill by this.

God cares just as much about Jonah as the entire city of Nineveh, and so he prepares a unique object-lesson to help Jonah understand.  As Jonah sits and watches, his little shelter of twigs and dried leaves doesn’t do a whole lot to keep out the beating sun, but then miraculously, a plant of some sort springs to life overnight and provides a shade.  Much better.  Jonah’s liking this.  His anger subsides some and he just enjoys relaxing there.  This plant is his new best friend.  But then the next day something has eaten away at the root of the plant and it withers away just as quick as it showed up.  The sun rises and a scorching wind tears across the sands, the temperature jumps about 20 degrees and sucks all the moisture out of the air and now Jonah starts to act again like a teenager who just got embarrassed by Mom or Dad at school.  He’s so angry that the plant is gone that he says he’d rather be dead than live without it.

Again God asks this question, “Do you have any right to be angry about this vine?”
We’re not at our rational best when we’re angry, so Jonah’s probably not thinking about his reply when he says, “I sure do!  I’m so angry I could die!”

And the Lord, in love, drops the truth on Jonah.  “Jonah you’re angry about the loss of this vine, right?  But why?  You had nothing invested in it.  You didn’t tend to it.  You didn’t make it grow.  You didn’t raise it from a seedling.  In fact, it was here one day and gone the next.  And yet look at how important it was to you.  A plant that lasted a day.  Now turn back around and look at this city.  People.  Human souls.  There are more than a hundred and twenty thousand children just in that city, never minding adults.  People I created.  Souls I care for.  I raised them all.  I caused them all to grow.  And you want to be angry that I just didn’t wipe them out because I had an excuse to?  Consider how precious they are to me.  Instead of looking for a reason to punish them, shouldn’t I look for any reason to pardon them?  Shouldn’t I look for any reason to forgive them?”

The story of Jonah ends here.  And if we’re not careful, we can walk away from it thinking that this is a cautionary tale of one guy with a bad attitude who learned a lesson we already know.  And yeah, I’m guessing not one of us has ever gotten so furious at the evil of a city that you went and sat out and watched to see if God would wipe it off the face of the earth (though maybe that fantasy occurred to you).  No, to really watch ourselves for Jonah’s attitude we have to backpedal all the way to the start of the story.  The word of the Lord came to Jonah and said, “Go preach against Nineveh.”  Go and tell the Ninevites exactly about their evil and how I as God feel about it so they have a chance to change their ways and be saved.  Jonah didn’t want them saved.  Jonah didn’t think they deserved to be saved.  So he went the other way.

Do we do this?  Perhaps not literally run from the Lord but do we just ignore the same command he gives us?  Do we treat someone differently because we have determined they’re not worth it?  By God’s grace I should hope we’re never as overt about it as Jonah, but I know my own heart and I think if any of us are sitting here today thinking “I’ve never judged myself to be better than someone else,” then we’re lying to ourselves.  We always do this.  In many different ways.  But before we wrap up this morning let’s look at first the root of where this attitude tends to come from and then at what God gives us to fight against it.

Like I said, this attitude of Jonah can manifest in many ways.  Maybe we just don’t tell someone about Jesus because we don’t think they’re worth it, because we want them punished for what they’ve done.  Usually it’s even more subtle than that.  Maybe we’re just indignant that someone we know is forgiven at all.  They come in here, unkempt, disrespectful, fresh from a life of blatant sin and they smile when God says they’re forgiven and we’re upset that this is it.  Where’s the lesson learned?  Where’s the guilt and shame poured out for a while?  Where’s the consequences? 

Okay I could keep going, but the point is, where does this all come from?  Where did it come from in Jonah?  It comes from a false sense of self-worth.  You think you’re better than the other person.  Again, you’d probably never say or even think those words as such.  But the attitude is there.  I deserve to have God save me because I’m worth it.  I take my faith seriously.  I try really hard for him.  I’m a good person that God should be glad to have on his side unlike those slackers over there.

And at the same time, like Jonah, we are undervaluing the lives, the souls of those others.  Rather than treasuring them and wanting them saved by any means possible, we’re more concerned with justice and fairness.  And humanly speaking, maybe we’d be on to something.

But let’s balance this value-equation.  Let’s consider our value, and their value.  Do you know the answer to this question, “What is something worth?”  Let me say that again in a different way, “How do you know what something, anything is worth?”  You might think that’s a nonsense question that can’t have a real answer, but it does have one.  A thing is worth what someone else is willing to pay for it.

Now as you consider your value on your own, as you consider the value of those we try to devalue, look to the cross and balance the equation.  God himself became a human being so he could go in your place.  Your own sin, your own lack of value meant God had to make up that worth himself.  He had to pay for you.  How much did he have to pay to bring you up to an acceptable level?  Look at the cross.  It was the blood of God himself.  God himself had to suffer and die to complete your worth.  I should hope that gives you insight into how worthless you are to start with.

But now consider it from the other side.  How valuable are you to God?  How much was he willing to pay for you?  He was willing to pay for you in his own blood.  And the same is true of that other soul you would like to consider yourself above.  He or she is worth the blood of God.  And before we start to devalue the blood of God saying something like “well, sure but that was a once for all shot.  Jesus dying included everybody no matter who they were.” Sure, that’s true.  But that’s because we are all equal sinners.  If you and you alone were the only one who ever sinned, Jesus still would have done it.  If that person we’re tempted to look down on was the only one who ever needed it, Jesus still would have done it.

Brothers, sisters, I call you that because that’s what you are to me.  We are family in Christ, each equally important, each equally valued.  Each soul out there is equally in need of the same salvation we have come to know.  When we find ourselves struggling with that equality, when we start to think ourselves above or better than someone else, more deserving of God’s love and salvation, look back at that great equalizer; the cross.  Remember what about you drove Christ there.  Remember why he went anyway.  He loves you.  He treasures you.  May that same love show itself through you to others in everything you do.  Amen.

 Peter made his way over to the wash basin and splashed himself with the cool aquatic stimulant. He looked around at the other men – near him. Philip was trying to get a stain off his tunic. Matthew was joking around with Jude. Nathanael was still sleeping under the fig tree.

Peter smiled. These were his “brothers in the faith”, his "fellow disciples," his "family." They had spent months together. They had learned together. They had eaten together. They had defended each other. They were a wonderful little family filled with people that he loved.

WHACK! A heavy slap hit Peter in the middle of his back. He turned around as he felt a familiar hand ruffle his hair. “What’s up Pete?”

That was Andrew. Peter’s real brother and the only part of this little “family” who knew just how to annoy him. He knew just how get under Peter’s nerves. Before they were disciples, they had been fishermen together. Andrew was known for taking credit for the haul of fish. Everyone once in awhile he took fish guts and stuffed them into Peter’s tunic while he wasn’t looking. There was that one time that Peter lost his net, searched for it everywhere, and then found Andrew calmly fishing with a  brand new net offshore. He insisted that it was his, but Peter knew better.

Andrew was the one who made this whole family feel like a family. He sinned against Peter on more than one occasion.

But unfortunately, being a part of this whole Jesus movement meant that he was supposed to forgive Andrew. That’s what Jesus talked about. “Forgive each other.” Jesus harped on it.

Peter began to towel off his beard as Jesus approached him with a warm smile.  “There must be a limit though,” he thought. "There must be a moment when the sins are too great, when forgiveness is impossible."
 
“Master,” he asked as he got Jesus’ attention, “how many times shall I forgive my brother?” His eyes were  fixed on Andrew. “Up to seven times?"

To be fair that seemed legitimately compassionate. It “took the plank out of his eyes” and “treated others as he wanted to be treated.” It “loved his named as himself” and was a “salt of the earth” decision. It was just a bit crazy from the normal way of doing things…which was the way that Jesus rolled.

It just wasn’t crazy enough.
 
22 Jesus replied, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy times seven times." 

Today we’re going to continue our series called Family Matters. We just got done talking about communication and how to deal with anger. This will wrap up this whole section on interacting with one another. We’re going to answer Peter’s Question:

(1) How much We are to Forgive 
(2) How We go about Forgiving People Who have Hurt Us

Ready? Let’s pray to God and ask his blessing:

Strengthen us O Lord by the truth; your Word is truth. Open our eyes to see what you want us to see. Open our ears to hear what you want us to hear. Open our hearts to believe what you want us to believe. Amen.

I. How Much Are We to Forgive
 
To teach his disciples about how much they ought to forgive, he told this story.

There was a King. Since he was king, the modern equivalent might be a C.E.O. (Think Shark on Shark Tank). He had many servants. He had many cooks. He had many massage therapists. He had lots of people who did whatever he said.

He had a gigantic place. A mansion to rival the Biltmore. He wore a Gucci robe. He had a chair decked out with the softest plush seat and the most beautiful diamond studs. He had the latest iPhone update – the one that didn’t even hit stores yet. He had his own drone, a piece of the original Millennium Falcon, and he had Hulu without the commercial interruptions.

He was rich.

Because he was rich he often had helped out his servants. He would loan them some money. He would get some income. They would use it to start their own business. Others would use it to buy a car. He had become a rival to Visa and Mastercard.

On this day he was going to settle his accounts. Servant after servant came in and made payments on what they owed him.

Except one.

One servant came in who owed the King 10,000 bags of Gold or about a million dollars.

But all he had to offer the king? A crumpled up IOU.  

“Seize him!” the CEO told his guards. And rightly so. The man had basically stolen millions of dollars from him. He wasn’t ever going to pay him back. He had frauded him out of his possessions. He had broken the seventh commandment – “You shall not steal.” He was worthy of punishment. The law was on his side.

And the servant knew it. “Be patient with me,’ he begged, ‘and I will pay back everything." "I’ll work 100 hours a week. I’ll ransack my closet and sell things on eBay. I’ll take surveys online for an extra dollar. Please don’t send me to jail. Please don’t rip me from my family. Please don’t punish them for my failure. Please …have mercy.”

The C.E.O. looked down at the servant. He saw his tears. He saw his distress. He saw his sadness.
 
And he had compassion.  He cancelled the debt and let him go.

Isn’t that amazing? One million dollar debt – cancelled. Not lessened to a hundred thousand. Not changed to a work equivalent. Not worked out through property seizure.

Cancelled.

And this isn’t just a nice puff piece that makes it way onto the last few minutes of the nightly news. REMEMBER: Jesus told this story in order to teach his disciples about forgiveness. There is a deeper spiritual meaning to this story.

The king represents God. God is way richer than the king or our modern equivalent C.E.O. Since we serve God, we are his servants.

We owe God a lot. Millions really.

How so?

Imagine for a moment that one sin was equal to $1. Every time you sinned, you had to pay God $1. Now let’s imagine that you had 1 sin per minute. (Yes, there may be moments where there are less sins – while you are sleeping. But there are others minutes where you get real mad and sin about 20 times in your thoughts in the span of 15 seconds.) 1 sin per minute at $1 per sin is $60 for an hour of sinning.

Now there are 24 hours in a day. That’s $1440 per day. 365 days in a year? That’s $525,600 per year. (Do you make that much?) The average age in this congregation is 40. That’s $21,024,000 owed to God as the average debt for people at Gethsemane.

I’m not positive, but I imagine we wouldn’t even be able to gather enough funding to pay for one of us.

But here’s the deal. The price of sin isn’t a dollar. It’s a death. One death for every sin. Romans 6:13 says, “the wages of sin is death.”

That’s an impossible price! Even if we died one death that would still only pay for one sin. At millions of sins over a lifetime that’s millions of deaths!

Or eternal death.

There’s only one who had the spiritual funding to pay for our millions of sin.
There’s only one who has the spiritual funding to pay your bill completely.
There is only One who had the divine value in his blood necessary to pay for our eternal debt.

Jesus.

His blood had divine value and infinite amount of funding. When he died on the cross, he paid for your first sin, your second sin, your third sin and so on and so on…until every last sin was paid for.

And your debt? Was cancelled. Millions of millions of sins cancelled – on the cross.
Millions and millions of deaths owed? Paid for with his death.

You want proof? He lives! That doesn’t happen if it didn’t work. He’d still be working on paying the next sin.

The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life. Consider the glorious truth contained in those words. You owed a debt you could not pay; Jesus paid a debt He did not owe. God forgave you all of your sins.  

II. How We are to Forgive  

That feels pretty awesome doesn’t it? It almost makes you want to go celebrate. Go get some streamers; go grab some of those squeaky noise makers; turn on the Pandora party station and jam!

But that’s not what the servant in our story did.

Instead, he found his friends. Maybe at the local pub. The place where all the other servants hung out. He had a celebratory drink, but then in the corner of his eye he saw a fellow servant (Let’s call him Bob.) Bob owed him some money – 100 silver coins. He had lent Bob the money years ago, but Bob still hadn’t paid him back. It wasn’t a small amount; it was a few months wages. But it wasn’t unpayable either.

The servant took a glug of his beer. He slammed it to the table. He walked across the room and grabbed Bob by the throat. “Pay back what you owe me!” he demanded.
 
His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, “Be patient with me, and I will pay it back!”

Sound familiar? Those words had been spoken before. They must have echoed in the ears of the servant –reminding him about how he had been in the same, much – much worse situation hours earlier.

Same situation; same result? Not so much.

The servant refused. He found the local law enforcement by the door. He brought charges against the man for fraud. He had the man arrested. He mocked him as he was thrown into prison.  Then, he went on his way home.

But some other servants were at the pub. Some other servants saw the whole thing. Some other servants remembered how he had been boasting about having his debt forgiven by the C.E.O Some others servants couldn’t help but tell the king what had happened.

The next morning, the man made his way into work and found an email saying that he needed to see the King immediately. He packed his things up and whistled on his way to the C.E.O.’s office – they were such good buds now. He probably wanted to be his friends on Facebook.

But when he entered the room and he saw the anger in his boss’s eyes, something told him this wasn’t going to be a pleasant visit.

32 "You wicked servant…I cancelled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?”

The man stood there speechless. There was nothing to say. He had been forgiven an impossibly large amount. He had been unforgiving about a much smaller one.

In anger his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured until he should pay back all he owed. That means he never paid it back. (You don’t make a lot of money for being tortured in jail.)

What do you think? Did the man deserve it? Yes? Sounds good right?

Here’s the turn...Jesus says this, “This –unforgiveness and making you pay the debt that you owe – millions of deaths in hell – is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive you brother or sister from your heart.”

Does it still sound good?

This happens so often in family. There’s not anyone you’re going to sin against more than your family simply because there’s no one you will be in proximity to more than your family. As a result – unforgiveness is a huge temptation. A huge temptation and it’s wrong.

If you are refusing to forgive your wife because she keeps going over budget…
Or refusing to forgive your husband because he keeps losing his temper…
Or refusing to forgive your kid because they keep disobeying…
Or refusing to forgive your brother because he keeps using your dolls as action figures…
Or refusing to forgive your loved one OR an ex-loved one because they did something awful to you…
…You are putting yourself in danger of God doing the same to you.

But pastor, what they did is too repetitive and too awful. You don’t know what it’s like.

You’re right. I don’t. But God does. God does because that sin against you was also a sin against God. He felt it. He suffered for it. He died for it and now he says to you, “Do you really want to be fair? Do you really want God’s family to be about unforgiveness? Do you want to see what it’s like when I do that to you?

Forgive us Lord. Forgive us for our unforgiving hearts.

Thankfully. When Jesus died on the cross, he also died for unforgiveness. It means if you are convicted by God’s Word right now, repent. Look at the cross. See your sins – even your sins of an unforgiving heart – on Jesus.

Listen to God’s Word. “In Jesus you are forgiven. You are forgiven for your unforgiveness.”

III. WHAT NOW?
​
Zero in on verse 35 again. It says “Forgive your brothers and sisters from the heart.” That’s what God did. He removed the pain and hurt that was in his heart and he made you right with him.

That means it isn’t enough to say, “I forgive you.” It isn’t enough to simply text, “No worries.” It isn’t enough to say “We’re cool,” only to bring it up again and again whenever you want something from your spouse.

That heart needs to let it go. It needs to let it go for you. It needs to let it go for them. It needs to let it go for God.

And yes, I know that wasn’t the point of the song Let It Go from Frozen. Elsa was talking about her magical ice freezing powers. But, I’ll tell you what, forgiveness is freeing. Gone is the tension whenever you hear that person’s name. Gone is the nervousness whenever you are alone with them. Gone is the yelling and the anger.

It’s replaced with God’s love. With God’s heart. With God’s mercy. With God’s compassion.

Amen. 

A whole sermon series on Baptism?  That sounds so Christian, doesn’t it?

What I mean is – you won’t find a lot about baptism in other places. It’s a word that kind of has a religious only meaning. You don’t talk about baptism and grocery shopping. You don’t have to be baptized to become a member of your gym. Baptism isn’t an exercise in your local hot yoga studio. 

Baptism is strange. To this world, it doesn't' make a lot of sense. It's precisely that truth that might cause Christians to downplay Baptism's value. 

If you entered my apartment, you'd run into the dining room table. If you turned your neck sharply to the left, you'd see a book shelf. On the shelf are a few photographs -- pictures of our wedding, a day at the beach and family. The shelf also holds some videos, a few books, and a light. 

But in the middle of the photo frame jungle are two small ceramic figures. A grey elephant and a tan hippo. 

Why? 

I don't have some kind of obsession over large pachyderms.
They don't hold salt and pepper.
They aren't big enough to hold any papers down. 

We have them because they are old. They are heirlooms from my great grandmother. Nothing else. They don't have any practical value. They are just antiques.

Do you ever think of baptism like that? As if it were some old, antiquated item that really doesn't seem to fit into the modern church? We keep it around because it's old..?

In the next six weeks, we’re going to examine baptism from all different kinds of angles. We'll see that Baptism is much more than just old. Baptism is still and remains a part of the Christian life and faith. 
Tonight we are starting by taking a look at the moment Jesus first instituted Baptism.

I. Jesus Said What

Take a look at Jesus’ words in Matthew 28:19. He says, “Go and make disciples of all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”  
 
Quick English lesson. An imperative is a command. There’s not a lot of wiggle room. Imperatives are exactly what Jesus uses when talking to his disciples here. Jesus didn’t say, “If you might could, possible think about this as an idea worth considering, in your spare time, when you get a chance, if you want, no worries, no hurries, if you get around to ok, ok then, I’d appreciate…thanks for thinking about it.”

Nope. Just “Go” and “Make.” Simple commands.
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But it wasn’t like Jesus told them what to do without telling them how to do it. He said, “Go and make disciples…baptizing them,” meaning, “Here is the way to do it.” A crucial part of this disciple making process is baptizing.

More English. The word “Baptize” comes from the Greek word baptizo.  It is used a lot in secular Greek writing of the time. People would baptizo their hands. They would baptizo their dishes. They would even baptizo their dining couches. Using context clues the meaning is clear.

Simply put baptizo means to wash.

Granted. There’s another big school of thought out there that says “baptizo means to submerge.” As a result, some churches teach that if you don’t submerge anyone under water, then it isn’t baptism. If you weren’t submerged under water, then you aren’t baptized.

How’s that for a conscience burden? Especially if you have longer hair:

Did all my hair make it under?
What if the upper half floated on top and was never truly submerged?
Do I still have unwashed sin located in my split ends?

But here’s where it’s important to look at what Jesus says. Check out the text again. “Go and make disciples of all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” Do you see any clue that this baptizo means submerge underwater? Me neither.

Let’s not add to what Jesus says then. Can we do that? There’s no need for us to improve on Jesus’ command. Let’s take him at his word and move on.

But don’t think that baptism is nothing more than just washing your hands. This isn’t just Jesus’ version of “make sure and wash up before dinner.” Look at else is involved besides the water “…baptizing in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”

At Precious Lambs we are getting ready for ECERS. That stands for “Early Childhood…Something, Something, Something.” They are the ones who gives us five stars. Part of getting that five star rating is hand washing. The kids need to wash their hands using the state approved 8 step method. Step 1 – Turn water on. Step 2 – Get hands wet. Step 3 – USE SOAP!

Do you know how many times I have to remind kids of that!?! Use soap. If you don’t use soap, you aren’t really washing your hands clean of germs.

But when it comes to cleaning our souls. When it comes to cleansing our beings of all our unrighteous acts. It takes more than water. It takes more than water and Dial 100% antibacterial soap. 

It takes washing in the name of the Father. The God who wiped out the whole earth with his floodwater.
It takes washing in the name of the Son. The one whose blood flowed from his side.
It takes washing in the name of the Holy Spirit. The one who floods our hearts with the message of God’s love.

Why do we baptize then? Because Jesus said so. We baptize how Jesus said, because Jesus said. Fair enough?

II. Jesus Said Who
 
Jesus doesn’t leave us in the dark as to WHO to baptize either. Take a look at what he says about who to baptize. He says, “Go and make disciples of all nations by baptizing them…”

That pronoun “THEM” is key. It refers back to all nations. That’s who we are to baptize.

But Jesus isn’t racist.  He doesn’t say “Baptize only white people.” Or "baptize only Latino people.” He says, “Baptize all nations,” as in all people of all nations.

And Jesus isn’t sexist. He doesn’t say “Baptize only the men.” Nor does he say, “Baptize only the women.” He says, “Baptize all nations,” as in males and females.
 
And Jesus isn’t ageist.

This is probably the one Christians have a hardest time with. Some churches teach that we should only baptize those who are old enough to have the rational capacity to verbally confess faith in Jesus. The thinking is that they don’t know what’s going on. They can’t really believe.

Really?

Ever been to a children’s lesson? Ever heard those kids answer my questions? They know that Jesus was on the cross. They know that Jesus took away their sins. They know they had rose from the dead. They know way more bodly and way more confidently than almost any adult I’ve ever talked to.
 
Jesus might be my Savior. If it’s all true, but I have my doubts.
I know he’s supposed to be my Savior but…I really do have a lot of really bad sins, soooo…..
Me, forgiven? I don’t really feel it. I don’t know if I’ll have heaven.

And the kids? Jesus is my Savior. He died to take away my sins and I’m going to heaven. Can I go back to eating my yogurt now?

It’s ok. Kids put me to shame, too.

UNDERSTAND THEN: Jesus isn’t ageist. He doesn’t say, “Baptize only those people over 18.” He doesn’t say, “Baptize only those who you think might be old enough.” He doesn’t say, “Baptize everyone who has graduated sixth grade.”

Nope. Just baptize all nations. Baptize adults. Baptize kids. Baptize babies. We baptize who Jesus said, because Jesus said. Fair enough?

III. Jesus Has the Authority

So what, Pastor!?! I don’t do things just because someone tells me to. CNN tells me to vote this way. I might not. FoxNews tells me to vote this way. I might not. Pepsi tells me to drink Pepsi and I drink Coke! I don’t do something just because someone tells me to!

But what if they have the authority?

Back up with me a moment. Right before his command to baptize Jesus said this, “All authority in heaven and earth had been given to me.”

Was anyone here ever a room monitor back in elementary school? Room monitors get to have some power. They make sure no one else is talking. They make sure everyone stays in their seats. They get to look around at all their friends and write their name on the board if they do wrong. (And they have the ability to abuse their power. “I won’t write your name on the board, if you pick me first for kickball at recess.”)

But a room monitor…is not the end all. They have some power. Not all.

Note Jesus’ words.  Not “some.” “All.”

Understood. It is one thing to say you have authority and another thing to actually “Have authority.”

But Jesus had just proven that to be true. He had shown his authority over death by rising from the dead a few weeks earlier. In fact, he had been in the business of proving his authority throughout his ministry.

He proved his authority over the body…and made blind see, deaf hear and the lame walk.
He proved his authority over pathogens and bacteria…and made sick people healthy.
He showed his authority over evil spirits…and drove them out.
He proved his authority over the elements…and reduplicated matter…bread and more bread out of little bread.
He proved his authority over nature…and calmed the storm.
He even proved his authority over the earthly element in baptism – water. He made it into wine. He made it into a walking surface. When he tells us he is going to use it as a means of making disciples – why would we doubt it?

If Jesus has the authority in your life? Be baptized.

Be baptized because he said so. Be baptized and receive the incredible blessings of baptism.  (More on those in the coming weeks). 

And parents, have your kids baptized and let them receive the incredible blessings of baptism. (Again…more on those in the coming weeks.)

And if you have been baptized – continue to dwell under Christ’s authority. He made you His. Do as he says so.

And…yes. I really have answered that question “Why” in a very rudimentary and Sunday School way: Because Jesus said So.

Do you really need anything else?

Amen.