There Are No Unsent Christians

There Are No Unsent Christians

Matt Freeman

Transcript

It's good to see you guys this morning. My name is Matt. I'm one of the pastors here. And today we are finishing up our series called Follow Me, where we've basically been walking through the book of Mark and talking about discipleship, learning from Jesus and his interaction with his disciples. So what we've done is we've looked at that.

We've looked at what Jesus teaches his disciples, what his disciples were doing. And what we've done is ask the question, how do we do this? How do we, in 21st century America, actually respond to Jesus' call? How do we follow him just like James, John, Peter, and Andrew did? How do we do that in our context today? And so we started off with our baptism party where we celebrated people who have moved from death to life in Jesus, who've placed faith in Jesus.

And we talked about the fact that the gospel is good news that you live in light of. It's an event. It's news of something that has happened, that Jesus died on the cross for our sins. It's not, the gospel's not a whole bunch of rules. It's not moralism. It's news that you believe.

And then as you believe that, your life begins to change. So we started there. That's primary for disciples of Jesus is belief in the gospel. And then we moved on and said, okay, if that's true, there are no unrepentant Christians. That's what we talked about next, that the life of a Christian should be repenting and believing. Repenting being seeing your sin, confessing of your sin, turning away from it to follow Jesus.

And that's a lifelong process from a disciple. You don't just confess your sin when you become a Christian. It's the life of a Christian is repenting and believing. And we moved on from there and said, there are no Christians who have something other than Jesus as primary. That when you follow Jesus, he asks us, tells us, commands us to lay everything else down, and he becomes primary to us. Even the good things in our life, even family and friends and our jobs and things that would be considered good on their own.

Jesus takes the primary spot over top of those. And our response to that is when we see anything that's getting in the way of that is back to what we talked about the week before, which is to repent and believe the gospel again. And what we looked at last week is that there are no Christians that exist outside of church family. There are no Christians that are supposed to exist outside of the family that Jesus has made us into. And it's this beautiful mix of people of all different backgrounds and races and thought processes and understanding. Even the disciples were a hodgepodge mix themselves.

And what happens is Jesus calls them to come to him. And as they come to him, he begins to change them. And so today as we wrap up our series, what we're talking about today is the fact that there are no unsent Christians. All Christians are to respond to Jesus, to come to him, and then he actually sends them out. That we're actually supposed to live our lives to spread the gospel, that we should be on mission. And the truth is, if you're a Christian in the room, or even if you just know things about what Christians believe or who Christians are, you're already on board with what I'm saying.

Because the gospel at its core is a message that has to be shared. So nobody in the room is going, yeah, well, but, nuh-uh. That's not happening because we all understand that it's a message that's supposed to be shared. Nobody's doing that. But there's still a disconnect between knowing that we're sent out and actually doing it.

There's a disconnect between knowing that we're sent out and even knowing how to do that. So we say all the time as a church that we're a gospel-centered community on mission. That you should be on mission with your friends and your neighbors and your coworkers. That we're joining Jesus in his mission to save Columbia. Like, we talk about that all the time. But the question becomes, okay, well, if that's what I'm supposed to do, how do I do that?

So you get excited and you're like, okay, cool. I'm going to go be on mission at work. We talk about that a good bit. And then you show up to work and it's like, what now? Well, I'm here. I'm ready to be on mission.

Like, is it that you kind of walk over into the break room where people are having coffee and like you just, at whatever opportune moment presents itself, you just, Jesus. I'm really doing it, guys. Is that it? Or is it like if you're wearing a shirt, you kind of roll up your sleeves so that they can see your sweet cross tat and you're just hoping that they're going to come talk to you? Like, they're going to, hey, tell me about your cross tattoo and your relationship with Jesus. Like, is that it?

Or is it maybe people are in the break room eating lunch and you're just trying to figure out how do I slide in the idea that I had a sweet time of fellowship with my brothers and sisters in Christ last night? I mean, is that going to do it? It's kind of like when you're in middle school and you're trying to talk to someone of the opposite sex. You know this? Y'all remember this, right? Okay, it's like I'm a guy.

I'm walking up to a girl. Do I say something about her hair? Like, do I mention, do I say that I like my little pony too? Or like Lisa Frank, whatever that stuff is. Did I put on enough Acts before this conversation? But that's kind of the idea.

So nobody's arguing. Nobody in the room is going, no, I understand that Christians are supposed to be sent. The disconnect is, well, how do I do that? I know I'm supposed to tell people about Jesus. So what we're doing today as we finish this series is say people who follow Jesus are sent to go share the gospel.

So we're going to look at Jesus sending out his disciples. And what we're going to look and say is, okay, if that's what he told them to do, if that's what he instructed them to do, how do we apply that as 21st century Americans? So my goal today is just to be helpful. I want to help coach us up just a little bit on like how can we begin to practically do this in our lives. So I'm hoping today will be helpful as we conclude this series.

So before we hop into the text, let's pray together. God, the fact that this church exists is evidence that you send your people to share the gospel. Or that you sent people to Columbia and then you sent those people out into their neighborhoods, into their places of work, to their schools, to continue sharing the gospel so that people could place their faith in Jesus. So God, I pray that you would help us remember our call this morning. I pray that you would help us remember why we're actually going out to share the gospel and that you would begin to help us practically see how we can begin to do that.

We pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen. All right, go ahead and grab a Bible. We're going to turn to Mark in a second. But before we do that, I want to remind us of one of the main points we talked about last week.

Because if you don't get this point, if you don't understand what we talked about last week and you just go into being sent out, you'll miss the whole point of why we're being sent out in the first place. And so this is Mark chapter 3, verses 13 through 14. You can turn there. It's on 544 in your Bibles. But it says this, And he went up on the mountain and called to him those whom he desired, and they came to him.

And he appointed 12 whom he also named apostles so that they might be with him, and he might send them out to preach. So it says there in verse 13, He called those whom he desired, and they came to him. So before we ever talk about being sent out, before Jesus sends out, the first call he makes is for us to come to him. Some of us need to hear that this morning. That may be the one thing you need to hear this morning. Jesus' call to you, first and foremost, is to come to him, to enjoy him, to be in a relationship with him.

And the problem is when we get this flipped, when we forget that as Christians, when we forget that that's actually primary, we'll go out and we're ambitious to share the gospel. We want to tell people about Jesus, but we end up getting frustrated and burned out and spinning our wheels because what we're doing is we're going out telling people about the gospel that we're not actually enjoying and living out in our lives. So if we're not enjoying Jesus walking with him daily, but we're trying to go tell people about Jesus, we're missing out. Jesus wants our... Before he wants your actions and your activity, he wants you.

He wants your heart. That's primary. It says, if you look again, we've got the verses still on the screen, but it says, They came to him and he appointed twelve. And it says, So that they might be with him. And then it says he sent them out. So I just want to...

That is the motivation this morning. When we talk about going and sending out, we're coming from a place where we're actually enjoying a relationship with Jesus. We're walking with him. And then we go out. Now, turn to Mark 6. We're going to be looking at verses 7 through 13.

And this is kind of a foundational passage for us as a church. Because what we're going to see is a group of guys whose lives are centered around Jesus and the gospel he proclaims, that are living that out in relationship with him and with each other, and then are being sent out on mission. Being centered around Jesus, gospel-centered, community, on mission. This is a big part. That's why we talk about groups so much, because we believe that's our best way to fulfill what Jesus is talking about here. To follow him in close relationship with other believers, and then in relationship with those other believers, go out and share the gospel.

So this is a foundational passage for us. And what we're going to do is we're going to just read straight through the passage and look at Jesus' instructions to the disciples and then we'll kind of get the big idea at the bottom and then come back to the instructions at the top and talk about, okay, how do you practically do that? How do we practically do that? So Mark 6, starting in verse 7, says this, And he called the twelve and began to send them out two by two and gave them authority over the unclean spirits. He charged them to take nothing for their journey except a staff, no bread, no bag, no money in their belts, but to wear sandals and not put on two tunics.

And he said to them, Whenever you enter a house, stay there until you depart from there. And if any place will not receive you and they will not listen to you, when you leave, shake off the dust that is on your feet as a testimony against them. Okay, so that's Jesus' instructions. Then verses 12 and 13 tell us what they actually did as they were sent out. So picking back up, verse 12.

So they went out and proclaimed that people should repent. And they cast out many demons and anointed with oil many who were sick and healed them. So 12 and 13 tell us what they actually did when they went out. And verse number 12 gives us the beginning. It says, They went out and proclaimed that people should repent. You see, the gospel is a message of joy.

It's a message of freedom, but at its core, it's also offensive. What we talked about in the second week is that when people are repenting of their sin, it's coming to them saying that you are a sinner in need of saving. That there's something about you that is off and broken. You need to admit that and confess that and turn from it and follow Jesus. So while in the gospel there is ultimate joy, we understand that there's heart level satisfaction, that all the longings of our heart are actually fulfilled and found in Jesus.

There's also a part of us that is offended by the truth of the gospel because it calls us to change. It was true in Jesus' day and it's true in ours, especially in our culture. Our culture holds up the idea of expressive individualism. We talked about this in our Theology of Sex series. But the basic idea of that is you do you.

Whatever makes you happy is the greatest expression of yourself. Don't let anybody tell you what to do. You do you. But the problem is that the gospel comes along and helps us see that we're broken and we're in need of saving. So at its core, it's going to be offensive.

But ultimately there's freedom and joy that we can find in Jesus. And then it says in verse 13, so there's a call to repent. But then it says in 13 that they cast out demons and anointed many with oil who were sick and healed them. Now, it's likely that most of us in the room just kind of thought to ourselves, well, well, that's weird. And it gets even weirder when you realize that as Jesus sent them out, part of following Jesus was that they cast out demons and that they healed sick people. And in all honesty, when you hear that, it's like, oh, that's weird.

I don't understand how that exactly works out. And part of part of the reason for that is that we live in a culture that highly values intellect and education and reason. Those are those are pillars kind of in our society that we hold up. And those are those are good things. Those aren't bad things in and of themselves. But since our focus is kind of primarily there, our culture is very skeptical of the spiritual or the unexplainable.

And so I want us to take just a second. This really isn't the main point of what we're talking about today. But I want to take just a second to talk about what is what's going on here. What were the disciples actually doing? Because I think there are two errors that you can make when you come to something like this in the Bible. OK, you can read it and then just skip over it and act like it doesn't exist.

It's like I don't really know what that's talking about. So we're not going to talk about that's challenging. That's difficult. That's not being faithful to the text. I want us always as a church to be fighting to understand what the Bible is telling us. And the other thing that I think mistake people make is they read something like that and they say, well, that was only in the time of Jesus.

That doesn't happen now. And I don't believe that that's true either. I don't believe that that's true either. So I want to take just a second to unpack what he's talking about here and then we'll keep rolling. We believe that what the Bible says is entirely true. So that it says that they cast out demons and healed the sick.

We believe that happened. Our culture is obsessed with scientific explanation for everything. But when someone like Jesus enters into the conversation, someone who walked on water, who fed 5,000 people, and who died and three days later was raised from the dead, science isn't going to explain everything. It's not going to have all the answers. And the Bible helps us see that there is a spiritual reality that exists. And I want to help us out here for a second because I think sometimes even we can be skeptical on this kind of stuff.

If you believe in good spiritual beings, so if you believe in a God and if you believe in angels, it's not inconsistent for you to believe that there are also evil spiritual beings like Satan and demons. Okay, those two things are not inconsistent. And what the Bible tells us is that Satan is a created being. He's an angel who rebelled against God. He wanted to be greater than God. And God cast him out of heaven and there were other angels who followed him.

These fallen angels are what the Bible refers to as demons and they have influence in this world. They're actively trying to undermine God's will and God's work in the here and now. But God and Satan are not on par with each other. The Bible doesn't even get close to presenting it like that. It's more like Godzilla versus Bambi. Okay, and even that's kind of a, that's not even describing it well enough.

That's what the Bible tells us. But Satan, demons, hell, all real. The Bible makes that clear. The Bible tells the story of Satan deceiving our first parents, Adam and Eve, into sin to break God's command in their life and sin entered the world. And so the relationship between God was fractured as they were tempted. And the rest of the Bible tells the story of God's active pursuit to redeem people, to bring people back into a relationship with him.

And ultimately we see that accomplished through Jesus dying on the cross and rising from the dead. So that when Jesus died on the cross, Satan was defeated but not ultimately conquered yet. Still having influence in our world. Still able to do stuff in our world. We see in the book of Revelation that ultimately he is conquered and destroyed. And so what Jesus is doing here, what the disciples are doing as they go out, is they are actually combating the works of the enemy.

That Jesus is helping them push back darkness in their area. That they're actually ministering to people on a spiritual level. And the Bible tells us that part of the way that works throughout, that you see, is that there's power in the name of Jesus. And there's power as people pray. It says people were possessed or oppressed by demons or had spiritual warfare going on. That was how it was combated.

It was with the power that is in Jesus' name and through prayer. Now again, I don't want us to spend all of our time talking about that this morning. So if you've got questions or you want to talk more about it, Chet and I are going to be available after the gathering. You can ask us more questions. Also, we did a sermon on this back in our 1 Peter series called The Devil and the King. And I would also kind of point you towards that sermon.

So what's the point? What's the point of what the disciples were doing? As the disciples went out to share the gospel and to minister to people, they were sharing the gospel with whole individuals. They weren't just meeting physical needs. They weren't just meeting emotional needs. They weren't just meeting spiritual needs.

That as they shared the gospel, the gospel was good news for the whole person. Whether it be sickness or spiritual warfare or the need to just repent of sin. That as they went out, they were actually ministering to whole people. So yeah, they helped feed people. They helped clothe people. They helped clothe people.

People who were in poverty. And the same thing is true for us. We should feed the hungry. We should help with homelessness. All the while knowing that it truly is the gospel that is at the heart of what people need. So what we're seeing is that the disciples went out and shared the gospel.

Because the gospel is good news for all of life. So now the question becomes, based off of what Jesus instructed them, how do we do that? How's that going to begin to show up in my life? How's that going to begin to show up in the life of our group? Now, some of you, maybe you're a note taker. Maybe you're not.

I'm going to challenge you to jot down some notes today. There are cards in front of you. There are pens in those seats. Because I want to just give us some practical coaching on how we can begin to be on mission. Based off of what Jesus is telling us. What he's instructing his disciples.

So go back to the top. Go back up to verse 7. It says this. Now he called the twelve and began to send them out two by two. He called the twelve and began to send them out two by two. Now, there are likely a lot of reasons why Jesus did that.

I think there was a safety element. That it was easier to travel with two people together. I think there was like personal discipleship kind of woven in there. Those two guys being able to pour into each other and build each other up. But I think the main reason is to show us that community is hardwired into Jesus' call to mission.

Hardwired into it. That it's supposed to be done in the context of relationships. Especially since the rest of the New Testament continues that idea. You see the church living it out in relationship. The letters are written to groups of believers. And so the first answer to the question, how do we do this?

How do we begin to practically be on mission? Is that we go together. Is that we go together. I was growing up and anytime mission or missionary was talked about. It was always in the context of like you as an individual. Go out and invite your friend to come to church with you.

Or even if it was foreign mission. It was like an individual going out to another country by themselves. But the command for mission in the New Testament is always in communal terms. But the problem is what we talked about last week is that we've been invited into a family. We've been invited into relationships with other believers. But when it comes to mission, it becomes an individual sport.

It would be like watching a football game. It's football season. There are going to be a lot of football metaphors. It would be like watching a football game. And the quarterback snaps the ball to himself. And he runs up and he blocks somebody because he's got to do that too.

And then he throws the ball and sprints after it as fast as he can to try to catch the ball. And then he gets splattered. And the rest of the game looks a lot like that. And their team loses 63 to nothing. And then in the press conference after the game, he's like, Oh, we just didn't play up to our potential today. We nothing, man.

You were trying to do it all by yourself. And I think when we talk about mission in the church, we all begin to think as individuals. But it's not. It's intended to be done by groups of believers going out together. And here's why. Community puts the gospel on display in a way that you as an individual don't have the ability to by yourself.

Community puts the gospel on display in a way that you can't do by yourself. Let me show you how this shows up. So many of our baptism videos start off with, I started hanging out with a community group. And so we have to remind people like, Your community group didn't save you. Mill City Church didn't save you. But what they're saying is, That's the first place I actually saw the gospel tangibly.

I saw real love and service and openness and family and hospitality. They saw the effects of the gospel. It goes hand in hand with what Jesus says that, By your love for one another, They'll know. They'll come to know the gospel. I mean, it's so clear all throughout the New Testament That it's supposed to be done in relationship with other believers. Okay, well, how do you do that?

A couple of practical things. Invite your group. Like I said, we're a groups-based church. We talk about groups all the time. Invite your group. And here's what I mean by that.

Don't just invite people to your group. Invite your group to people. Don't just invite people to your group, Like your group meeting time. But invite your group to people. It's not bad to invite people to hang out with your community group When you're getting together. But invite your group to people.

We all have relationships, Whether it's at work, Or the people that we go to the gym with, Or that we're in school with, Or people who live in our neighborhood. And so what the Bible helps us see is, Make the most of those relationships, And invite the other Christians you're already in relationship, Into that. You've already got the relationships. Just let them be a part of that. Let me show you how this can play out. Let's say I'm building a relationship with someone who plays video games.

I mean, he's a gamer and he loves it. I don't like video games. The reason being, I'm not very good at video games. I stopped at the Nintendo 64, GoldenEye 007, Which is the greatest game of all time. You cannot argue with that. It's true.

So that as video game systems got better and more complex, I was, Like I was behind the curve. Like my roommates, When we were in college, Would invite me to play Halo, Just so they could get their kill count up. I mean, I'm literally the guy in the corner with a gun, Doing this. And they're all three standing behind me, Just waiting for me to turn around. They don't even care who gets the kill. They're just loving watching me, Because I can't, I can't control.

I'm all over the place. I'm not good at video games. But let's say I'm hanging out with my group, And my group leader says, Hey, Anybody that we should be praying for, Anybody you're building a relationship with currently? I say, Yeah, I've got a friend of mine who, Well, Tell us about him. He loves playing video games. And Tom goes, I like playing video games.

Can I get in on that? And immediately you go, Why did I think of that? Tom plays like 15 to 20 hours of video games a week. Now that's another conversation for another day. But Tom's good at video games.

And so Tom and I and my friend, We begin hanging out. And of course I play with them, So, You know, They can get their kill counts out and whatever. But that's a picture of you inviting somebody in, A Christian that you're friends with, Into a relationship that you already have. And that actually goes hand in hand with the second thing. Use your gifts. We believe that all Christians have been given gifts by Jesus for the edification of the church.

So you are not like everybody else that you're in relationship with. You've got different skills and abilities. And inside the context of a group, You actually get to use your gifts for the benefit of helping people come to know Jesus. I want to tell you all a real life story of how that happened. Okay. And I'm going to use real names because these are real people.

When Chet and I and our families moved down to be a part of Planting Mill City, Chet worked at Sears. Okay. At Sears, Chet met a guy named Jack. So he started building a relationship with Jack. They kind of became friends. Started hanging out some outside of work.

Maybe grabbing lunch. Playing some video games together. And then Russ, Who was the first person who became a Christian as a part of our church, Also worked at Sears. And was also a part of the community group that Chet was in. So they all started getting together and playing video games.

So different people using different skill sets. Then Chet invited Jack to come to a Halloween party that his group was throwing. Okay. There had to be someone who was organizing the party. There had to be someone who was communicating with all the people what they were supposed to bring. There were people who served and made food and set up and kept it kind of going.

There were people who were just fun and just relational. They were playing cornhole and can jam. And so Jack shows up to this thing. And, you know, I mean, you've had a conversation with Chet. And, you know, I mean, maybe it goes somewhere. Maybe it doesn't.

Who knows? But there are two super friendly guys in that group, Boneweed and Dan Stoiku, Who spent that night getting to know Jack. Just got in conversation with him. And then after that night, they started inviting them to come to their house. So he started hanging out with their families.

They invited him into their homes. And then Jack started hanging out with their community group. And eventually Jack became a Christian. You see that? That's different people within a community group using their different gifts. To throw that Halloween party.

To open up their homes. Someone had to eventually share the gospel with Jack. So we actually get to use our gifts. And that really takes the pressure off. I think all of us think, I've got to know exactly what to say. And I've got to do all this stuff.

But the New Testament tells us that it's done in the context of relationships. The third thing is this. Have rhythms. Have rhythms. That's kind of common language in our day. You'll say something like, you know, just going through the normal rhythms of life.

And what you're saying is, all the stuff that you're doing on a regular basis. That's what rhythms of life means. Well, we encourage all of our community groups to have rhythms. Rhythms of life where they spend time together. So obviously that's going to include coming to a gathering on Sundays.

That's going to include their group meeting time. But it's not just that. That we have some of the things that are going on in some of our groups. Some of the guys get together for lunch during the week. The girls have girls' nights. Some of the groups get together outside and they go and serve.

We've got stay-at-home moms that go to the zoo together. And try to invite their friends. And here's the deal. The more that you guys are actually spending time together in relationship with other believers. The more opportunities you have to bring other people in. Okay, so if the invitation is, hey, come to my house.

We're going to read the Bible and repent of sin. It's going to take a special kind of person to respond to that and say yes. But if your invitation is, hey, come watch a football game and eat some ribs. I'm down. What time? Do I need to bring anything else?

I want to make this the best party ever. So when it says they went two by two, mission is done together. So I want us to change our mindset from just being individuals, being renegade cowboy Christians out on our own trying to do this to actually beginning to do it together. Okay? So we go together.

Go back to the text. Look at verses 8 and verse 9. It says he charged them to take nothing for their journey except a staff. No bread. No bag. No money in their belts.

But to wear sandals. And not to put on two tunics. Okay, I think part of Jesus' design here is to emphasize that they needed to totally depend on God for this to happen and go well. Not on themselves. Not on their provisions. Not on their provisions.

That they needed God to open up the doors and to provide for them as they were going. God's setting this up in a way where they're not able to take credit for what actually happens. And so second practical thing that we can do to begin to be on mission to be sent is to trust God. Now, you may hear that and go, okay, thanks preacher boy. I know I'm supposed to trust God. It's like, no, but actually trust God.

If we believe, if we believe that salvation begins and ends with God, that God draws people and through his Holy Spirit leads them to repent, leads them to a correct understanding of who Jesus is, leads them to turn from their sin and to have a life of following him, then we're going to treat it that way. We're going to trust God. And for us as Christians, one of the ways that we express our trust in God on a regular basis is that we pray. That's what prayer is. It's communication with God and asking him to work in our lives and on behalf of other people, whether it be sickness or salvation, whatever it is, that's us coming.

God's saying, I trust you. We need you actively at work here. So if that's true, if that's how we trust God is through praying. If I could listen to your prayer life, would it be abundantly clear what you want to see Jesus do in the life of your friends? Would your dependence on God be evident if I could listen to your prayers? Which of your unbelieving friends did you pray for by name this week?

Because the truth is, if you're not praying, if we're not praying, we're not actually on mission. We're not a part of the mission. There is no mission without prayer because there are no results without God. I'm going to say that again. There is no mission without prayer because there are no results without God. So we pray.

That's part of how we actively begin to be on mission is that we pray. The first thing you can do is pray for yourself. You may hear that and go, well, that's kind of selfish, isn't it? No. That's what we talked about in our Prayer in the Holy Spirit series is that God is our good Father. And we're needy children.

And he wants us to ask him for stuff because we're needy children so that he can send the Holy Spirit. So part of the way you begin to do this is you pray for yourself. You're praying for your eyes to be open to the people who are around you. You're praying that God would send the Holy Spirit to give you courage. You're asking for the Holy Spirit to give you the right words. You're asking the Holy Spirit to actually help you care about the people who you are around.

We need God active in us first and foremost. Then we begin to pray for people by name. Pray for people by name. And this is for you personally and for us as a group. That we actually go before the throne of God asking him to move and work in the lives of people around us. Because if we actually want to see them become Christians, we actually want to see them saved, then that's going to be the active work of God in their lives.

And I want to tell you all this. There are two guys that our group began praying for two years ago by name on a regular basis. We started praying for those two guys to become Christians, that Jesus would move and work and lead them to repent. And both of those guys have become Christians, were baptized as a part of this church, and now are actively involved in community and serving to see more people become Christians. Now, as we were praying, we were also inviting them to go get lunch and spending time together. But that's a confidence booster for our group.

We get together and we remember, Man, two years ago this person wasn't saved and we prayed and God saved them. So that's part of how we can practically do it. Third thing is this, pray for others to go. Pray for others, the people who are in your group. Pray for other people in our church. Pray for Christians in our city and in our state and in our country and in other countries.

Jesus says, Pray to the Lord of the harvest that he would send out laborers because the harvest is plentiful, but the laborers few. We're praying for opportunities that God would open up the right doors. We get to join other people in their mission. Here's the deal. The more you begin to pray about people and pray about the people in your group who they're trying to reach, the more you begin to care. The more you're willing to invest your own time, your own energy, your own effort.

The stuff that we just talked about, working together as a group to see that actually be possible. Jump back to the text, verse 10. It says this, And he said to them, Whenever you enter a house, stay there until you depart from there. And if any place will not receive you and they will not listen to you, when you leave, shake off the dust that is on your feet as a testimony against them. Okay, there's a cultural thing going on here. In the Old Testament, when the prophets would go into a town to proclaim the message, if it was received, they would stay there and let their blessings stay there.

Okay? If they rejected the message, the sign that they would do as a sign of condemnation against them was that they would shake their sandals. They would shake the dust from their sandals and move on. So that's what he's talking about here, is that look for those type of people that will receive you. And again, what we've been doing in this series is saying, here's what Jesus did with his disciples. Now, how do we learn from it?

And specifically in this text, he's actually sending the disciples out. They're going out. So it's not really in the context of their day-to-day lives. It's more, he's actually sending them to places. And the church is still a sending agency. We still send people to other cities and other states and to other countries to share the gospel and to plant more churches.

That's why our church partnered with City Church for our gift project. Last year, we gave $2,300. And 25 people from Columbia, South Carolina moved to Knoxville, Tennessee. And I'm happy to tell you that they have since doubled moving there. So now they've got 25 that moved in and 25 that were actually from Knoxville.

And starting in January, they're going to be beginning like a worship service. It's like we've got to be a part of that. That's why we're a part of a church planting network with them and with three other churches. That's why in the future, we want to partner with unreached people groups and other parts of our world to see them become Christians. So the church does send out.

But for us, what we're looking at today is how do we take this same idea and apply it to right now? How do I apply this to the everyday? And here's how we say it. Here's how we say what we're looking at in this passage. Build with those who want to build. So in this passage, it says, Go to people who will welcome you into their homes.

Some of the other gospel accounts say like, Go to people of peace. People who are open and receptive to your message. And if people aren't, just shake the dust from your sandals and keep moving. And so for us, we want to build with those who want to build. That means we're going to pour the majority of our time and energy into those who are receptive. Now, this isn't an excuse to be lazy or to not be persistent.

It's a strategy thing. If someone is open and receptive to the gospel, you want to spend the majority of your time there. There's a lady in my community group that when she talks about me inviting her to be a part of our group, she says, Well, I basically just ran out of excuses. Yep. I'm persistent, if nothing else. I think the word she used was annoying, but let's not split hairs.

But what it's talking about here is building with those who want to build, going after those who are receptive. So how do we do that? Reach people in your calendar. Reach people in your calendar. Here's what I mean. Okay.

What? Y'all don't like the popping sound effects as we talk? Here's what I mean. We are surrounded by people constantly. The people that you work with, the people that you are in relationship with. And honestly, these are the easiest people for us to reach.

And one of the most common excuses that people give for not being on mission is that, Man, I don't have time. I don't have time to add something else into my schedule. Well, here's the beauty of seeing all of life as your place, as your means for being on mission. First of all, it kind of makes that excuse crumble apart. But that means that every situation, every relationship, every circumstance that you find yourself in is an opportunity for you to build relationships and to be on mission.

Work, school, coworkers, I already said work, neighbors, friends, family, the person at the gas station, the person at the DMV. All of those are opportunities for us to begin building relationships. So you can ask two questions to kind of figure out what are my options here? How do I spend my time? How do I spend my time? Who has God already placed me around?

How do I spend my time? What are the things that I do? And who are the people that God has already placed me around? And for the majority of us in this room, whether it be school or work, that is the place that you spend the majority of your time outside of anything else. I mean, we spend so much time at work or at school. And so we actually begin to look for ways to be in relationship with the people that we work with.

Here's how that shows up. Just imagine for a second that instead of going out to eat, going to eat lunch by yourself or maybe even just going to sit in your car for a couple of minutes of peace and quiet, you actually began inviting the people that you work with to go have lunch with you or you began going and sitting in the break room to look for people that you could have a conversation with, to begin building a relationship with. What if the people that you actually asked, how are you doing, that you actually stopped and listened? I'm for real. Like these are the people that you're in school with or that you were with.

They really don't have an option to not be around you. And so you get to begin to be strategic. All the other things we've already talked about, like praying and asking for God to be active in their lives. And then as you begin to talk with them and build relationships, you're going, okay, God, help me actually listen. Help me be able to share good news with them. Help me be able to encourage them.

Help me to be able to help guide them in the life situations that they may have going on. Before I started working for our church, I worked at Dick's Sporting Goods for two years. And I got to experience this firsthand. There's a guy that's a part of our church whose name is David. And David and I worked in the same department at work. And we just, I just talked to him.

We built a relationship. We talked about things that we had in common. We talked about Clemson. We talked about our love for golf. Then I found out, like he's got a pretty odd last name, that one of his cousins was one of my professors at PC.

And then we went out to lunch together. And then he and his wife started hanging out with our community group. Like it was just building normal relationships with someone who was receptive. Let's see. Let's see if I can tell another story.

My group's laughing because I tell these stories all the time. But it's not even just in the good times. It can also be in the frustrating situations. So there was this time, I know you're all going to find this hard to believe. There was a time when I did something at work that I wasn't supposed to do. I was hitting golf balls in the golf simulator when I was supposed to be helping people.

And someone went online and wrote a comment about how nobody could help them because he was too busy working on his chip shots in the range. And Tony Ando was the store manager at the time. But they didn't know who it was. And so they went to the golf pro and said, who was it? Who was watching it? And the golf pro was, I really don't know who it was.

And he came to me and he goes, look, dude, this was you. You were watching the department, right? And I was like, yes, I was watching. He's like, look, man, I'll just tell him I didn't know who it was. I was like, man, I can't do that. I'm asking you to be dishonest and I'm not being real.

So I went to Tony's office and I sat down and said, hey, I just want you to know I was the person who was watching the golf department. I'm sorry. I was doing something that I should not have been doing. I just want to apologize because that's not who I am. I'm a Christian. And so I just wanted to ask for your forgiveness.

And from that moment, the relationship that Tony and I had changed because I was willing to go and admit a mistake. And even in admitting my mistakes, was able to share the gospel in a way that I had not been able to previously. That's what I'm saying. We've got all these different opportunities at work. So begin reaching the people who are in your calendar.

The second thing is this. Be a friend who is a Christian. Simply be a friend who is a Christian. Another reason that people give for not being on mission is that I'm afraid. Now, they may not say this. They may say things like, I don't want to hurt people's feelings or I don't want to lose friends over this or I don't want to mess this up.

I don't know enough. But if we actually believe the gospel is good news for all of life, all of that just kind of falls apart. Because ultimately, we get to do this with other people as we're praying for God to be active and at work. So we just get to be a friend who is a Christian. It's not always going to mean that you just come out with your Bible laid open and just telling them all of this stuff. Be a friend who's a Christian.

You begin listening. Here's how you do it. You begin listening to what's going on in their life. And when they come to you and ask, what should I do about this in my marriage? What should I do about this with my money? The way you get to respond is, well, I'm a Christian.

So that impacts how I think about this. But here's how it is. Here's how I would handle that. Here's what I believe to be true. Nobody's offended by that because you're talking about what's true for you. You get to begin looking for people who've invited you to things.

Who's the person that always wants to come talk to you at work? Or talk to you at school? That may be the very person that God wants you to reach. When you go for walks in the neighborhood, who's the one person who's like waving to you and wants to talk to you? Like, go be their friend who's a Christian. I already told you a little bit about how that shows up at work.

How it shows up in the frustrating situations. It's all of life. If following Jesus is primary for you, it's eventually going to come out in the conversations that you have. You don't have to put this weird pressure on yourself to tell them everything about Jesus. You begin to listen to their life and love them and serve them well. And eventually God will open the door, whether it's through you or somebody in your group, to share the gospel with them.

So the way we answer Jesus' call to be sent out is that we go together, that we trust God, and that we build with those who want to build. So the question becomes, for those who have answered Jesus' call to come follow him, the question becomes, are we answering that call to be sent out? Are we actually going and sharing the gospel? Are we looking for those opportunities all around us? Because there are no unsent Christians. And for those who have been radically changed by the gospel, who realize that Jesus came on mission to save us, to give us ultimate fulfillment and life in him, how much more do we want to go out and share that with other people?

And we get to do it with other people in the context of normal, everyday life. We get to begin praying and praying for other people that our group members have relationships with. That we get to build with those who actually want to build, throwing parties and going to football games and doing all the things that God's called us to do because there are no unsent Christians. We get to follow Jesus in our normal lives going out. And so Raz and Isaac are going to come back up and lead us in a song as we close. But I want to help us see how we can respond in three ways today.

The first one is this. If you're not a Christian, the first thing that we talked about this morning is the way that you can respond this morning. Jesus' call to you first and foremost is to come to him. And we invite you to do that, to come to him, to repent of your sin and place your faith in Jesus and begin a lifelong, eternal relationship with him. If you're a Christian and you've listened to what we've been talking about today and you know that you've been sent, but you're thinking about work and you're thinking about family and you're just realizing, I haven't been doing this. That's part of what Jesus calls us to do.

And so my invitation to you this morning is to repent, to repent of that. And then the third thing is change. Actually begin to go. Don't just leave here and go, man, that's such an inspiring message. We should be on a mission. That's great.

No, actually, your life begins to change. My hope for you is that you walk out of this room today thinking specifically about people at work or people that you're in school with. And you begin thinking about the conversations that you're going to have with the people in your group about how you can begin to serve together, how you can invite each other in on the mission. And that as the years go by as a part of our church, we would see more people become Christians and more community groups multiplied as Jesus does work in the city as we join him on his mission. Let's pray.

God, we can't do this without you. We don't have the ability to. We can't change people's minds. We can't change their hearts. And so first and foremost, God, we pray that you would be working in the lives of the people around us. God, we thank you for the wonderful opportunity you've given us to actually go out and share the gospel.

God, I pray that we would leave today and actually begin making plans for how we can reach our friends and our neighbors and our coworkers. God, there's so many people who need to hear the good news of the gospel, and you've given us the opportunity to do that. God, I pray that through our community's own mission that you would begin to do work, that you would help people repent of their sin, that you would help them place faith in you. God, that you would give us courage and boldness and joy as we follow you in it. In Jesus' name, amen.

Motley Crue

Motley Crue

Chet Phillips

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Transcript

Good morning, my name's Chet. How y'all doing? Grab your Bibles. Let's go to Mark chapter 1. We are currently taking a little time to walk through sections of the book of Mark to begin to understand what it looked like for the first followers of Jesus. And then from there, kind of saying, okay, how does that apply to us?

How do we do that? How does that look here in South Carolina in 2016? And so we've got two weeks left, and then we'll be moving on to other things in the fall. But I'm excited about today. I think what we're going to do is we're going to hop in, and we're just going to jump in and look at a couple of different passages, kind of right in a row, kind of quickly. We'll spend a little bit of time talking about them, but we're going to go through three passages in Mark chapter 1, 2, and 3, and then kind of just discover something together and talk a little bit about how that played out for them and then what that looks like for us.

So I'm going to pray, and then we'll jump in. God, we thank you for the opportunity we have to study your word, and we pray that through your Holy Spirit you would help us respond, help us respond to the truth of the gospel, help us respond to you in the way that you desire your church to be. We love you, and we praise you in Jesus' name. Amen. All right, so we're going to start with a passage we've read a couple of times.

We're going to be in Mark chapter 1, starting in verse 16, and we're going to go through this one the quickest. But it's Jesus calling his first disciples. So it says, I love that Mark puts that note in there, that they were fishermen, because he would assume that you thought them throwing a net into the sea was weird otherwise. So he's like, they were throwing a net in the sea. They were fishermen. Like he clarifies for you.

So anyway, Jesus said to them, Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men. And immediately they left their nets and followed him. And going on a little farther, he saw James, the son of Zebedee, and John, his brother, who were in their boat, mending the nets. And immediately he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants and followed him. We looked at this passage last week and talked about how we, as Jesus calls us, were called to give up what is primary to us to follow him. And that's how that works for everybody.

But what we're seeing right here is that Jesus calls four guys who are fishermen to follow him. Now they were, James and John were most likely younger than Simon and Andrew because James and John were still with their father. Simon and Andrew were not. They are fishermen, which is a respectable trade. Put them in kind of a, they would have been rougher guys, but it's a blue collar kind of middle class Job depending on how well their fishing business goes. So it seems like the Zebedee has a couple of boats maybe and a couple of people already working for him.

So whereas James and Simon and Andrew were just kind of leaving their boat, James and John are leaving their dad with hired guys. So he's got more of a crew going for him. But this is kind of middle class Jewish men that begin to follow him. They would have been, we find out more about them later, but they're devout Jews. They're followers of Judaism. So they would have gone and celebrated the festival, the feasts and gone to the temple for sacrifices and would have been a part of a synagogue.

They were normal average. Jews in first century Judaism. Okay. So that's who starts following Jesus in John chapter one. And I'm not John chapter one. They do start following in John chapter one.

Also, that doesn't have anything to do with what we're talking about today. They follow him in Mark chapter one, what we just read. Let's go to Mark chapter two, verse 13 through 16. We're going to look at the next disciple that Jesus picks up. So it should be on the same page or just one page over verse 13.

He went out again beside the sea. So he's in the same general area and all the crowd was coming to him and he was teaching them. And as he passed by, he saw Levi, the son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax booth. And he said to him, follow me. And he rose and followed him. Okay.

So he sees a tax collector named Levi. Luke calls him Matthew. That was the same name, just his Jewish name or his Hellenistic kind of Greek name. But Levi and Matthew, the same guy. And he sees a tax collector and he says, follow me. Now, this is immediately an issue for the other four guys following Jesus. tax collectors.

Um, um, because tax collectors were not liked in this culture. Now we, we, we, we're not fans of the IRS mostly just because they take money from us. I mean, we're pro having schools and roads and ambulances, but, uh, we, we really don't want the IRS to take any more than they have to. Um, tax collectors at this point, we're a little bit different. So we're in, uh, Judea, which is a traditionally Jewish place that would be Israelites would live there.

And they were free up until, um, BC 63 when the Romans took over. This is AD 30 ish at this point. So it's been about the amount of time from us to world war two or a little bit before world war two, when Rome took over and subjugated the Jewish people. Tax collectors were Jewish people who worked for Rome, taking taxes from other Jewish people to pay Rome to occupy the territory. So they took money to pay for the Roman soldiers who lived in the area.

It would be as if, uh, Pearl Harbor was just the beginning of the Japanese attack. They make landfall and we begin to fight with Japan. And while we're doing that, uh, Germany takes over the rest of Europe and then they attack the Eastern seaboard and they begin to, uh, assault us from the Atlantic. And then eventually the United States caves in and crumbles to the access powers and Japan and Germany meet in the middle, uh, in Kansas and high five each other. And the U S falls and is subjugated by the access powers in world war two. That amount of time of us being underneath German rule and your neighbor, your friend, people, you are live near work for Germany, taxing you to pay for German soldiers to rule the United States.

That's what Matthew did. The Romans were not, uh, to be trifled with. And whenever there was an insurrection or rebellion, they would roll in, capture everybody and execute them. They've, there's times where they would crucify people leading up into cities where the whole roads leading into the cities were of crucified individuals on the road leading into the city. To show you this city tried to rebel against us. Many people most likely knew of family members and friends that had been executed by Rome and tax collectors worked for Rome to keep them there.

They would have been ceremonially unclean. So they, Matthew would not, or Levi would not have, uh, been a part of normal Jewish life, would not have gone to the temple, would not have celebrated, uh, the feasts. Uh, most tax collectors were excommunicated from their, excommunicated from their synagogue. He's a traitor. To most Jews. It's possible that these four men who were fishermen actually had to pay him taxes.

He's at a tax booth on a road that many people would have brought their supplies down. And he has full authority to walk over to you and to assess the value of whatever you have and take whatever tax he wants. He just looks through your stuff and says, okay, this is how much you owe me. And if you can't pay him, he takes it out of the cargo that you're taking. So they may have had to pay him in fish or money on their way back from markets, but tax collectors were not appreciated, tolerated, but mostly hated.

And Jesus walks over to him while he's at his tax booth and says, you're going to follow me. So if you're Simon and Andrew and James and John, immediately, earlier when you got called to follow Jesus, you were thinking, this is amazing. I get to follow Jesus. I must be kind of special. There's got to be something. What did he see in me?

And then he walks over and he asked a tax collector to follow him. And immediately they have to be rethinking this. They've got to be this moment of like, looking at each other like, are we okay with this? Like what? I mean, he asked him, but what if he actually follows him? And it says that Matthew does, gets up and follows him.

And it's like when you, when you're in high school and you got called to the office with a bunch of other students, when you showed up, you looked at the other students to try to figure out like what y'all had in common. Like, are these the type of people who are here because they're in trouble? Are these the type of people who are here because they've done something good that smart people did? Like, do you know what I'm saying? Like they're looking around, you're trying to decide, why am I here? Why are you here?

What's this crew here? And so as soon as he picks a tax collector, the disciples have to be going, okay, this is different than I thought it was going to be. Let's keep reading. And as he reclined at table in his house, that's Levi's house, many tax collectors and sinners were reclining with Jesus and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. And the scribes of the Pharisees, when they saw that he was eating with sinners and tax collectors, said to his disciples, why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners? And Jesus, when Jesus heard it, he said to them, those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick, I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.

So when they, the Pharisees and the scribes see this, Jesus is having a party with Levi and Levi's friends. So it's a bunch of tax collectors and sinners. They immediately asked, why are you, why does he hang out with these people? Sinners to them was a whole class of people. So we use the term sinner as we're all sinners.

We've all fallen short. None of us lived up to God. We've all rebelled. They had sinners as a class of person, an identifiable class of people that had chosen to live a life outside of following Judaism. That, that were marked by their sin, by their vocation, by their decisions, by their lifestyle. They were marked by their sin.

So it'd be similar if, you know, at the beginning of maybe middle school, everybody had to show up and stand in the gym for a little while before they would let you go to class. It'd be similar if you changed up your patterns, and then one of your friends came to you after about a week and said, hey, when'd you start hanging out with rednecks? Hey, when did you become best friends with the goth kids? Hey, when'd you get so smart? Nice khakis. Like, whatever.

Like, you've begun to hang out with some identifiable crowd at this point, and that's what they come over and say, why, what is he doing? Like, he shouldn't be hanging out with this group of people, these sinners, and what we know is the disciples didn't answer him, Jesus answered them. I'm willing to bet the disciples at this point didn't have a good answer. They don't really know. They're just following Jesus like they're, he called them to, they're going to. They've committed.

I don't know if they had a good answer at this point. I think they showed up to this party and saw that, it was a bunch of tax collectors and sinners who, as they, as good Jews would not have spent time with. I think they walked in. It'd be like, it'd be like, maybe in high school for you, you get invited by a friend to a party, and you show up, and when you show up, you walk down into a basement, and there's 15 people playing Dungeons and Dragons. And for you, you just immediately think, oh no, I've entered the wrong basement. This is not, like, I don't, I don't know how to talk to these people.

I don't have any kind of, I don't know what to do here. Maybe, when I just told that story, you thought, no, that sounds like a wonderful basement. Okay, so for you, maybe you got invited to a party after a football game, and you walk into a room, and everybody in there is still reeks of sweat. Like, I don't know. I don't know what it is for you, but that's, that was them. They walked into a place where they immediately walked in the room and thought, oh no, I'm not, like, I shouldn't, I shouldn't be here.

This doesn't fit for me. And that's, that's the, the four guys that were following when they have a party with tax collectors and sinners. But Jesus immediately, as he begins his ministry, says, no, I'm, I'm breaking down some walls on who's okay and who's not okay, and on who we're going to be friends with, and who we're going to welcome, and who we're going to love. I'm not following the, the set rules. So you need to go ahead and get geared up for that.

And it gets worse. Let's go to chapter three. Now this is the twelve apostles, or the twelve disciples. I just want you to read you this list, and they stick this guy at the end that I think is very interesting for us. All right, almost at the end.

So we're in chapter three, verse thirteen. And he went up on the mountain and called to him those whom he desired, and they came to him. These are the guys that are going to make it in the picture of the Last Supper. When he told them, hey, everybody sit on this side of the table if you want to be in the picture. These guys? Okay.

And he appointed twelve whom he also named apostles, so that they might be with him, and he might send them out to preach and have authority to cast out demons. We're going to talk about that call next week, being sent out to preach and cast out demons. He appointed the twelve, Simon, whom he gave the name Peter, which just means rock, James, the son of Zebedee, and John, the brother of James, to whom he gave the name Boanerges, that is, sons of thunder, Andrew and Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, so that's, he uses that name instead of Levi here, and Thomas, and James, the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddeus, and Simon the Zealot, and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him. Okay, that's second to last guy, Simon the Zealot.

Your version may say, Simon the Canaanite, and it means the same thing. That is a political party that was as anti-Rome as you could get. They believed that this land was given to them, to their ancestors. The land belonged to Israel and his people. The land belonged to the Jewish people, and no one else had any claim or right over it. Rome did not need to be there.

Rome had no right to be there. Not only was Rome's oppression and subjugation, a stench in their nostrils, but Rome's religion was as well. And they fought actively, to have a free Jewish people. Now, in AD 6, so that would be a couple, 20 years before this time, Rome put out, said they were going to do a census. They were going to take, and count everybody there, and the Zealots, the Canaanians said, no, nobody, nobody take part in their census. If you answer their questions, if you take part in their census, if you show up and do what they say, you are actively saying, they have a right to be here, and they do not have a right to be here.

That was one of their first, kind of, teamed up political things, that the Zealots did. They get increasingly more aggressive. They eventually have a group of Zealots, kind of after this time, but this, it's the, follows the same thought process, that are called the Sicari, that just means dagger men, and they actively worked for destabilization through terrorist Acts, on people who were friendly to Rome. So when they would get, they would have daggers underneath cloaks, in large crowds, and in the large crowds, they would walk up, and stab somebody, just to make large crowds, be a scary place to be, if you were friendly towards Rome, and to actively try to destabilize Rome.

So this guy, Simon the Zealot, so much the Zealot, that it had to be listed next to his name. Like if you have a friend called Dave the Libertarian, I have a guess, on what kind of conversations, how conversations are going to go with this guy. This is Simon the Zealot. Like this is, he wears this on his sleeve. Okay, now can you imagine, we don't know how Simon became, a part of Jesus' followers, but I'm assuming, the first time he and Matthew, had a conversation, it got very uncomfortable, very quickly. What do you do?

Oh, I was a tax collector. No, for real. Don't even joke like that. And Matthew's like, ha ha, ha ha ha, ha, ha ha. I mean, I'm assuming, you know, like if you have a group of friends, and you have, you know, your friend Dave the Libertarian, and you have another friend, that like, you're hanging out, and you realize all of a sudden, like, oh, these two people don't ever need to talk to each other. Like, I need to, if they get close to each other, I have to like, start a diversion.

Like, you see them starting a conversation, you go, ah, just knock over a lamp or something, because there's just no way, this is going to keep the party good. Breaking the lamp was better, than what was going to happen if they talked. These are both in the 12 followers of Jesus. Because Jesus begins his ministry, and what he says is, I choose who follows me, and I'm breaking down the standards for you, on who's okay, and who's not okay, and who can be in, and who has to be out, and who God loves, and who God doesn't love, and who's welcome, and who isn't. That's what Jesus does from the very beginning.

The disparity between a zealot and a tax collector. Recently, when they had the discussion about taking the Confederate flag down from atop the state house, I saw a video of when, I think it was a group of Klansmen from North Carolina came to protest. So, thanks for visiting our state. A group of KKK members came to protest. I remember watching a video of them. They had, you know, right to march in their little, cute little outfits to march on the state house, and one of my favorite videos was a guy holding a tuba who just showed up also, because he's a free American, and he's walking on the sidewalk next to them while they're marching, and every time they walk, he's going, burp, burp, burp, burp, burp, burp, burp, burp, burp, burp, burp, burp, burp, burp, just to completely undercut what they're doing.

I've also seen videos of when there's been different situations going on in cities where the Black Panthers will show up and even seen where they got permission to carry rifles and walk up and down streets, and it is as if Jesus walked over in the middle of the march where the guys playing the tuba walked over to a Klansman and said, hey, you, come follow me. And in the middle of the march where the Black Panthers were protesting came and said, hey, you, follow me. Both of y'all are going to belong to me. Both of y'all are going to be a part of the 12 guys that spend the most time with me, and both of y'all through me are going to overthrow the world with the gospel.

That's the disparity between these two guys. Okay. It keeps going, though. Jesus begins this. Now, you would say, well, yeah, but all of these guys are Jewish men. It keeps going.

Eventually, Jesus dies on the cross and then he tells his followers, this goes to the world. The gospel goes to the world. That I died for sinners goes to the world, not to just Judaism, not to just this area, this type of people. You spread this to the world so that on Pentecost, when Peter stands up, all the disciples are filled with the Holy Spirit and Peter stands up and preaches. When he preaches, do you know what language it was in? All the languages.

Every person there not only heard it in their language, but their dialect. So if there were multiple Americans there, I would hear Southern English. And somebody else would be like, Jesus is wicked good. Like, that's what they would have heard. But it was all languages because everybody was welcome.

And then as the book of Acts continues, one of the craziest things happens. People who aren't Jewish start following Jesus and are filled with the Holy Spirit. They actually have to, it's such a big deal to them that Jesus would save non-Jewish people that they have to get together and hold a meeting and talk about it. And basically all they say is, look, the Holy Spirit filled them like he filled us. If Jesus wants them, he can have them. He can do what he wants.

He can welcome anybody he wants to. And the church becomes the, the gospel message begins to spread to everyone who's ever walked on the face of the earth. So that Paul says this in Galatians 3. I'm going to have it, we'll have it on the screen. There is neither Jew nor Greek there is neither slave nor free. There is no male and female for all are one in Christ Jesus.

What he's saying there is that your racial breakup, your racial status, your family history doesn't matter when it comes to repenting of your sin and following Jesus. Your social status, your economic status does not matter. There are no privileged people before Jesus. Your biology does not matter. Jesus doesn't save men over women or women over men. There's not one that's better.

They're created by him and they're both loved by him, saved by him. All are one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to the promise. What he's saying there is everyone who belongs to Jesus is now one big family. And he immediately goes on from here in Galatians to talk about we've all been adopted. I don't care what your background was.

I don't care what your philosophy of life was. We all belong to Jesus now. We've all been adopted. That's the church. That's why we as a church family do community groups the way we do. We don't have age group based community groups.

So we don't have college groups or we don't right now have a student group. We don't have any kind of like well this is for single moms or this is for married couples. We don't do that. First of all one of the reasons we're not doing that is if we did that some of you would be by yourself because we're not a really big church. I'm starting a single mom group but have fun. Like you would just but the other reason is that we're a family.

So from zero to 102 we all belong to Jesus. We all gather together. We all worship together. We all belong to him. We've been made into a family. We've all been adopted regardless of your background or your current situation.

You belong to him. One of the pushbacks I've heard people give on this before and while we do groups the way we do people say well yeah okay but you're saying like I've got to be in a group with all these random people. Jesus got to pick who he hung out with and my response to that is yes and that's still the system. Jesus gets to pick. Matthew didn't get to pick. I don't know if he like levied a complaint he was like hey Jesus I saw that Simon the zealot's going to follow you.

Where's your suggestion box? I'm just going to hand this directly to you or me and some of the other guys were talking which is progress because when he first joined nobody was talking to him. Yeah Jesus picks. He picks who's going to be in your family. He picks who's going to be around you and we respond by loving everyone. Loving all the people Jesus gives to us to love.

So here's here's what I want us to do for just a second. I want to help us see something. So we're going to take just a minute to begin to understand what happens like how we have what how Jesus has to work in us for us to overcome some of this. What's got to go on where we need to repent and then what this actually gets to look like in the church. That's kind of what we're going to spend the rest of our time doing. So first thing I want us to do is this.

I want you to realize that every single one of us in this room has a list of what makes you good and what makes you okay and what makes you lovable. You have a list of these are the good people. These are the people that know stuff that are smart that make good decisions. These people and these people aren't. Every single one of us has that. Simon had it.

Matthew had it. The other four middle class disciples had it. All of them. So we're going to have some equal opportunity mocking this morning which is pretty normal for us. If you're new, welcome. Goal really here is to kind of hurt everybody's feelings.

Hopefully we'll accomplish that. If your feelings aren't hurt that just means we didn't mention you and I hope you get your feelings hurt for being left out. Okay. Our goal here really is to just point out here's how we're doing this all the time. Here are the lists we have. All the time going on in our hearts of what's good what's not good.

So we're going to start off with as any good you know center line moderator would we're going to go after conservatives first. Alright. So this is the conservative list of who's good who's bad who's in who's out who God loves who God doesn't. At the top of the list we got NRA members also known as home defenders slash American heroes. A little bit underneath them we have Fox News the only bastion of truth and genuineness on television even though no one wants to hear it they're in it not for the money but for truth and justice. Alright.

Bastion of truth and genuineness on television even though no one wants to hear it they're in it not for the money but for truth and justice. Alright. Fox News a little bit under them we have Ted Cruz just under Ted Cruz whoever Ted Cruz endorses. He comes in just a little bit under Ted Cruz underneath that we have and this is a good bit down the line here

We have people who compare having a dog to having a child so if you're conservative that's not a good thing like you can't just act like a child and a dog are the same thing underneath that a good bit down we have murderers I mean we're working through the whole list here guys I'm just hitting some highlights underneath murderers we have the liberal media and the lies they feed to the American populace and underneath the liberal media at the very bottom we have anyone who plans to vote for Hillary

And if you're a conservative I mean you almost wanted to shout amen but you realized we were kind of making jokes at you so you had to you had to hold it in but it's not just conservatives we have we made a liberal list as well for people this is what makes life good this is what makes you smart at the very top the best thing in the world Barack Obama I don't know if it's slow jamming the news whether he's reading mean tweets or I don't know getting rid of Osama bin Laden and ruling the free world

Osama bin Laden top of the list doesn't get better than that a little bit underneath that we have safe spaces where you can go maybe color maybe listen to some music that's unoffensive have no one say anything that you disagree with and be free underneath that we have free college college and universal health care the twin sisters of a modern society of what is all that is good and holy and righteous in our beautiful future underneath that

We have environmentalists actually out there saving the world every day did y'all know that? literally saving the world amazing amazing people underneath them we have people who don't believe in global warming you live in Columbia South Carolina you don't believe in global warming I mean in five points people just catch on fire periodically okay if they weren't sweating so much it just helps it counteracts it

Puts it out alright underneath that we have gun owners also known as psychos and underneath them Donald Trump a walking nightmare that has come from the upside down to rule and reign over the free people causing harm and havoc wherever he goes but it's not just maybe it's not just politics it's not just your particular political affinity we have lists for everything so we made a tough guy list so if you're macho you got hunts and lift weights up there

Now it can go either way you can be a guy who just really hunts like you're just that's your thing it can be lift weights if you do both that's amazing if you can do both at the same time you're at the top if you can get some curls in while you're in the stand if you can bench press whatever you kill like that's that's great underneath that we have never shows emotions other than anger or hunger I think that one can make it on the list

Underneath people who don't show emotions is you cried once at Braveheart we might we might let gladiator slide as well underneath that we have anyone who lets their wife drive while they're in the car and we're being a bit fast and loose with the word drive underneath that we have anyone who watched the notebook underneath that anyone who watched the notebook and wasn't forced to underneath them

Come people who can read now if it's a box of ammunition or like some whey protein and you gotta figure out how many scoops that's okay but otherwise not an okay thing underneath them people who do read and at the very bottom of the list people who read the notebook we've got one more this is we're gonna start bottom down on this one and this is just Christian culture the moral majority the background

Backbone of America American life we've got at the very bottom of this list scientists and the lies they're trying to feed our children above them we have fornicators above them we have people who swear potty mouths above them we have people who don't listen to family friendly radio they most likely swear people above them people who share

Repost share if you love Jesus post on Facebook out there fighting the good fight you guys every time that comes along they think I love Jesus repost it's not that hard it's just a click guys that's fine I just don't want to be there on judgment when all those pop on your feed and Jesus watch you

Keep on scrolling I'm just saying alright people above that people who watch God's not dead they're a little bit above them on the list but above them we have people who enjoyed God's not dead and then at the very top and he's been here a while Tim Tebow okay so those are all the lists we made we did have fun would like to share

A bunch more with you but those are the ones we've got here's the thing we're joking but not really see we're doing that all the time you've been trained to do this since you were a child you did this when you went to elementary school and then middle school who am I going to hang out with who's okay who's not okay who are my people who aren't my people how do I know I'm okay how do I know

I have value how do I know what's good and what's bad you see I need to be in the categories of what's good and then if this is good this has to be bad if this is what makes me okay the opposite has to be terrible that has to be what God doesn't like that has to be what makes you a bad person I mean and we we naturally drift towards the people

Who we agree with so that 95% of the people we hang out with that we spend our time with that we talk to agree with us when it comes to politics have similar social economic standing to us have similar similar similar family family backgrounds have similar educational levels skin looks the same culture

Looks the same attitude about life is the same we naturally drift towards these are my people and because we do all these things we're good we're okay we're lovable and we do it all the time you can see someone at Walmart and know whether or not I could be

Friends with them based off of what they're wearing based off of how they're acting you have an attractive one you have a dress one you have like we've got all of these it's something everybody in the room has something that you're using to say this is what makes me okay this is what makes me lovable this is why these are the good people

And what we can see from how Jesus picked the disciples and then what happens on Pentecost and then what happens with the early church is that Jesus immediately shows up and says no throw your list away it doesn't count it does not matter there are not good people and bad people there are bad

People and me that's what Jesus says there are sinners who need a savior and there's me a savior that's why his first message was repent and believe the gospel Jesus shows up and says anyone is welcome if they'll turn from their sin

There are no other qualifications so I want to tell you three things that happen if we as a church actually embrace what we're called to as followers of Jesus number one it'll be awkward it'll be awkward there'll be moments where you get to a conversation and you go

Oh we are so completely on different pages here like this is just weird I don't even know how to keep talking to you I really want to just argue with you I feel like you are so wrong about this like there are going to be moments that it's

Just awkward like that awkward may be the best that may be like the high water Mark it goes downhill from there there are times with my group I was just got to thinking about this and taking some notes and this is this has

Been the awkward is a very good description of my community group since I've been able to be a part of this church all the community groups I've gotten to be a part of like at best a lot of times we were just awkward like it was just a group

Of people that should not be in the same room together outside of Jesus like it would not naturally hang out with each other if we walked into a lunchroom this table wouldn't exist like people naturally divide themselves it wouldn't have been the group that was hanging out at

My house that wouldn't have been a lunchroom table like I've had conversations it's so fun for me the guys in our group get together and eat at Eggroll Station every Thursday Eggroll Station is right down the road it's a cash only place I keep seven dollars in my wallet at all times for Eggroll Station

If I got robbed he's like give me everything in your wallet and I opened up and saw I just had seven dollars I'd be like no I can't this is earmarked for Eggrolls I guess you just have to shoot me like but it's so fun because when we get around that table those guys there's conversational shift to one subject and you can see two or

Three people just being like I don't even know the words that are being used anymore and then it's fun because I get to do follow-up conversations with people so I've had a conversation with a guy in my community group where he asked me where we had a discussion about what interest was interest like on your credit card he didn't know what interest was

What's GDP what's return on investment I've had these conversations I've had conversations with like what's a Twitter what's call of duty I have had conversations where like in my group because it's such a random group of people somebody will say something about like they need to get a new band saw and someone else like what what kind of music do they play like I've had

Conversations with people about the frame rates on televisions that are best for gaming if you are playing Street Fighter had that conversation had a conversation about what what the difference between 90 grain and 100 grain bullets in a small handgun especially if it's a concealed carry for a lady had that conversation had conversations about woodworking had conversations about why Kendrick Lamar is the

Greatest rapper that's ever walked on the face of the earth and had to listen to four or five songs to learn that didn't like I I got invited to a party one time I showed up at the party and it was one of those situations where I walked in immediately was like oh these aren't these are I would not sit at this lunchroom table like these aren't my people I'm mad at them just like and I just kind of walked around from conversation to

Conversation waiting for like a word that I understood and I heard the word Star Wars and I was like all right I've seen that I'm a fan of Ewoks although I know people make fun of that and so then I got in this conversation and what they were discussing was how in the first trilogy lightsaber battles were much different from the second trilogy and the second trilogy made more sense because if the sword is made out of light you wouldn't have to wield it very

Harshly you could just kind of swing it like this and when it hit things it would just cut through it because it's not an actual sword but in the first movie they use them like they're really heavy swords and that didn't make any sense and then when it kind of came to me there was like a pause I said I liked it when Yoda used his lightsaber that's all I had and they were like good and then they just kept talking eventually I was just like I get best sometimes this is just awkward on the Venn diagram of what brings you together the only thing

Everyone's going to have in common is Jesus at the middle and that's exactly how that's supposed to be because Jesus calls everybody Jesus welcomes everybody and it doesn't have anything to do with likes dislikes background anything other than you're a sinner in need of a savior it's gonna be awkward secondly you're going to get your feelings hurt you're gonna get hurt you hang out with a church you were going to get hurt they're gonna get in arguments Simon the zealot and Matthew didn't just magically click there was some frustration there was some discussion there was how on earth do you

Believe that how is that okay you're gonna get your feelings hurt you're gonna get in some someone's gonna say something they're gonna make a joke because from where they come in life that's a perfectly okay thing to make a joke about but they just made a joke about your sister they're gonna make a joke and it absolutely isn't funny to you you're gonna get hurt and you're gonna have the option of walking away or pressing in of going to him and saying hey that's not that's not a funny joke for someone who follows Jesus and here's why that's why that's not okay and here's why I'm hurt right

Now because I like I thought we were cool but that's like you you just you just completely acted like I don't even exist or matter the the people that you in your life have said I can't stand I can't believe that somebody would oh my goodness I don't know if I'd ever be able to get along with somebody who was so rich they had a trust fund and they never had to work a day in their life I can't stand people who just are a drain on society and they just sit around their house waiting for their welfare check to show up I can't believe these black lives matter people I can't stand cops who on earth are you to say all lives matter

What does that even what are you even trying to say right now all the people that you've sat and said I couldn't be around somebody who acted like this voted like this had this attitude about this every single one of them is invited by Jesus to be his every single one of those comments you've made Jesus is actively after that person to make them his and if we actually look like his church you're gonna get your feelings hurt there's gonna be some arguments there's gonna be some frustration because what Jesus does is he steps into a giant group of sinners and says all of you are messed up all of you are selfish all of you think you're better than everybody else and

You're all welcome because none of that's true you're not better than anybody else you are messed up you are selfish you need a savior the third thing first is it's gonna be awkward secondly you're gonna get your feelings hurt thirdly this is beautiful because the only way this works is that Jesus Christ died on a cross to save sinners and to forgive us of our sin the only way this works is that none of us lived up to what we were called to and all of us needed a savior and Jesus saves sinners and because all of the conflicts we're gonna have and all the frustration we're gonna have and all the hurt feelings we're gonna have are going to deal with either I sinned against you or you sinned against me or one of us started it but we both went actively after it to harm each other all of

That is sin and Jesus already paid for sin everything that needs to happen for us to stay an eternal church family has already happened because Jesus paid for sin so we can forgive each other we can keep loving when it's hard we can keep having conversations when we don't want to we can weigh in when things are difficult we can walk up to someone and say hey I know you well enough to know you're actively trying to follow Jesus but what you just said hurt me so bad you have no clue and have that conversation trusting that Jesus is gonna be at work and that ultimately he forgives sinners and that when you even if you roll up into that conversation with a bad attitude and accuse them of things he they can forgive you and you can forgive them and Jesus can be at work in this and it's the only organization organism group family on the the planet that

Includes everybody that welcomes everybody it's Christianity doesn't show up Jesus didn't show up to Matthew and say hey you can follow me if you'll be this type of person he didn't show up to Simon he didn't show up to to Andrew and John and say hey you can follow me if here are the rules first here's what you've got to do first what he shows up and says is follow me the only thing that excludes anybody from the church is believing that they don't need Jesus is is holding on for dear life to their list and saying no this is what makes me okay and I have to have this everybody who lets go of that and walks into the empty hands that Jesus gets welcomed because there is no list that you can hold up in front of God and be saved by it's Jesus that saves us I don't care what other it could be a homeowners organization homeowners association in Malibu California or a gang in Detroit they all

Have this is what makes you okay and this is what excludes you and the church doesn't the church has Jesus makes us okay and holding on to anything else is what excludes you but everybody else who shows up and says I have nothing other than Jesus is welcome everybody's welcome because there are no disqualifying factors he saves sinners now Jesus went to work on Matthew because Matthew needed to change and Jesus went to work on Simon because Simon needed to change and if you if you say not I'm a Democrat like I am there's gonna be things because of Jesus that you can't be okay with that need to change if you said no I'm a Republican there could be things that need to change because you follow Jesus that's the way it works everybody's brought to Jesus so we all show up with all of our sin and Jesus goes to work on us to make us more like him okay and then because of the gospel

We get to we get to love each other we get to be friends y'all our culture says that you and I can't disagree and still still be friends Jesus says we can't do you know that you can disagree with somebody and still be their friend did you know that you can disagree with somebody and still be their friend like an actual friend like a still talk to them friend not like okay we're cool but we're not gonna talk anymore because we disagree you know this do you know how freeing that is do you know that as a Christian you should have friends that you disagree with on some very real issues to the temptation for us all is to say yeah we can disagree but not on all these things that are actually really important and then we just bring our list back in we actually get to disagree and still love each other and still connect with each other and still be friends one of the ways the early church practiced what Jesus has called

Them into here you ever read in the New Testament where Paul says greet each other with a holy kiss I just recently learned what that meant I always thought it was weird now it's amazing because I just thought kissing each other was weird and I didn't know what a holy kiss was be honest with you I'm not like a hugger like I and I'm working on this I've had people come at me before like this and I've been like nah I got live for real not just like I said no like stuck my hand I was like no I'll shake your hand I did that to one person I saw them like visibly like hurt inside like I so every time I read holy kiss I was just like this sounds terrible that's weird let's not institute that one but here's what it was here's why they did it in their culture when they greeted each other they kissed that was the cultural greeting the same way we would shake hands they they kissed it was just a normal cultural thing if you

Were on the same social level as the other person you kiss cheeks if they were below you they kissed your hand and the caste system the social structure system it was it was well known who was where if they were well below you they kissed your feet or vice versa if they were above you you kiss their hand if they were well above you kiss their feet that was what they did all day long so all day long they were rehearsing who's important who's at the top who makes it here who's better who's in the middle who am I equal to they were rehearsing that all day long that was what their culture did and Paul says no no no no when the church gets together everybody gets kissed on the face that's a holy kiss because that system doesn't apply to us everybody's welcome everybody's loved there is no hierarchy we all belong to Jesus and we're all sinners so when the church got together it was greet each other with a holy kiss everybody

Celebrate that we're all the same because Jesus is great so I love that imagery so we're gonna stand up right now and kiss it no I'm just kidding um here's what we're gonna do we're gonna repent because that's the appropriate response to the good news of the gospel we can be saved by Jesus based off of not our merit but his his love not our work we're gonna repent and here's how we're gonna do this I'm gonna read through a list we're gonna just talk through a little bit there are some people large groups of people that you treat poorly even if it's only mentally that you think about differently than other people that you look down on that in your head you're rehearsing the ladder in your head you're rehearsing the list of this is where I am this is where you are and you're gonna need to repent you're gonna need to ask Jesus to forgive you and to help you and to change you right now you're gonna need to ask Jesus

To help you see this there are individuals that you've done that to in our church family in your community group that you just kind of avoid because it's awkward you just kind of avoid because maybe they said something one time that you didn't like and so instead of addressing it with them or talking to them about it you just kind of write them off they're a jerk I don't like them they have an attitude they constantly cause this issue they they they on a regular basis say this which is hurtful and instead of loving them and talking to them you've just kind of said that's it I don't have to deal with you anymore I'll be in our I'll be in your group I'm not gonna cause you any problems but I don't have to talk to you you're gonna need to repent some of you maybe actually got in an argument you both remember and you're gonna need to go talk to each other and forgive each other and

Talk about it and repent there are gonna be some people that you don't need to talk to there are people who are awkward they exist that's as like that I mean I don't have a scale but that is like an objective thing there are people who just make conversations weird or who just and maybe you've been treating them differently there's some people who are just kind of rude and they need that addressed in them but one of the ways you're gonna repent is starting to love them again not walking over to them and saying hey when you've been really rude I've been offended by that and so I quit hanging out with you but I'm gonna start hanging out with you again because I'm really great that's not repentance that's not what that's gonna look like hey you always make me uncomfortable because of the sermon I'm gonna be your friend again don't do that just start being their friend again just start

Loving them start answering their phone calls start hanging out with them go sit next with them go start a conversation you don't need to tell them some people you're gonna need to tell them you hurt me we need to talk I've been treating you differently I've written you off I've stopped talking to you I've been cordial but I hadn't been loving okay so here's a list just to help us think who would it be weird for you to be seen with giving the normal social circles you run in who would it be weird for who would your friends say hey why were you hanging out with them what was that about that may help you realize okay I'm treating some people differently even if I'm not doing it intentionally I don't naturally just talk to them I

Don't naturally just act like we're on the same level is there anybody that you are really just thankful that you aren't so thankful I'm not like them thank you Jesus that I was born here thank you Jesus that I'm like that person anybody you're afraid of you feel uncomfortable when you talk to them because you believe they're elevated above you anybody you just don't like I just don't like them I get on my nerves I'm not saying you can't have friends and that having people you enjoy being around more is sinful not saying that don't hear that you can have friends you can have people you enjoy being around more you should that's normal I'm saying you can't say oh I don't like them so I don't have to hang

Out with them that's not true anybody you ignore or avoid sometimes it's not intentional it's just you don't think you'd have anything in common you think they don't want to talk to you they're really smart that'd be weird I don't know they're kind of in a whole different life stage I wouldn't have anything to talk to them about they probably don't want to talk to me I make things awkward so that person doesn't want to talk to me like you've already picked them out so you're just avoiding them and acting like Jesus hasn't called us all to be family and who are you critical towards who is it that you say I can't believe they I would never who is it you talk about when they're not there can you believe they did that rather than talking to them

Is there anybody you're holding a resentment towards you're bitter towards again some of these are going to be large groups of people maybe you're really uncomfortable with a different race and thankfully Jesus is at work in our church and we we are somewhat racially diverse we are trying to be more racially diverse which means we have to lay down some of our preferences I'm white most of our leadership is white and like real white like whitey white like type of music type of dress type of thought process which means we have to lay down some of our preferences we have to say this I know I like this better but that doesn't mean it's correct we're working on that we're continuing to try to work on that and and if you realize you know I just kind of treat this race differently or this

Large group of people differently don't pick someone in our church family who fits that description and go have them represent that entire group do you in a conversation you can start trying to befriend them you can start trying to talk to them but don't go over to them say hey I just want to let you know I've been unless you've been racist towards them then yeah fix that talk to them repent some people you're gonna need to talk to a specific person you've been avoiding you've been critical towards man's gonna come back up and we're gonna sing and thank Jesus that he makes us into a family that because of the cross our sin has been paid for that we're free and that we actually get to love one another and relate to one another forever that heaven all of those lists to die and it's just a Jesus lifted up and glorified forever and us as a beautiful family that gets

Together around the one table that makes perfect sense let's pray God I pray that through your Holy Spirit you would help us repent you'd help us see where we're treating people in our church family differently where we're acting as if we're above them or they're above us we're acting as if we haven't been made into a family we have nothing to talk about there's I don't have to be their friend they get on my nerves God I just pray that your Holy Spirit would be at work that you'd help us to celebrate the forgiveness that we have in you the joy and the hope that we have in you you'd help us to repent of where we're wrong pray Lord where we treat people differently based off of wealth race

Voting habits God where we have our list I pray that you'd help them to die and us to love you more and to love people more because you call all sinners to repent and be saved by your free grace and your death on the cross in Jesus name Amen

October 2nd, 2016

Follow Me

Follow Me

Chet Phillips

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Transcript

Well, good morning. We are in a series called Follow Me. We're in our third week. We're just taking some time to look in the Gospel of Mark and see what it looked like for the disciples to follow Jesus. Our first week, we basically just covered the idea that the Gospel is news. It is not advice.

It's not here's how you ought to live. It's a story. It's news about something that has happened. That Jesus Christ, the Son of God, died in our place for our sin on a cross. He was laid in a tomb and then three days later he rose again fully alive and ascended into heaven as the king of the universe. That's what we believe as Christians.

And we believe that that news, that fact from history, changes everything for us. That we can be made right with God again. That we live our lives in light of that information. Then the next week, last week, we talked about that there are no unrepentant Christians. That part of the Christian life is to follow Jesus, seeing our sin and turning from it. And that is a continual, lifelong process.

That Christians see their sin and turn away from it to Jesus. That it's not repent and do good works. It's not turn away from your bad deeds and do good deeds. It's turn away from your sin to Jesus. And so we're kind of continuing along with that today as we talk about what it looks like for us now to follow Jesus. How does that show up in our lives now?

And I heard this illustration one time and I think it's helpful to kind of get us started today. If I showed up late today, so if I just came running up a second ago and ran upstairs and was out of breath and sweating because I had to run. You know, there's like four stairs there. So, of course, I'd be sweating. And I was like, oh, I'm so sorry that I'm running behind. It's good to see you all this morning.

I feel like because I'm running behind, I should explain myself. So on my way over here this morning, there was a lady who had a flat tire. So I got out to help her while I was helping with the tire. I lost my balance, fell into the road and an 18 wheeler ran over me. So but glad to get all that straightened out and to get here this morning.

Like immediately your response is no. No, it didn't. Either really my are your options at that point is I'm a liar. That did not happen. I just am not good at lying. So I pick something way too extravagant.

And you'd be like, that's not like you. You've done poorly. You know, you want enough details to sound like it's real, but not too many details to sound like it was rehearsed. And you want some credible things. Getting hit by an 18 wheeler is incredible. Either I'm a liar or I'm just crazy.

Like I actually believe I was hit by an 18 wheeler. But my brain just doesn't work right. Like I buy that is not true. Those are your two options. And here's what the point of that is. If if I was hit by an 18 wheeler, the reason you know that's not true is because that would have had visible, tangible, real life effect on me.

Like there are consequences to that. You can't get hit by a portly person on a bicycle and not like have that go poorly for you. There's going to be some scuffs. There's going to be some problems. There's going to be some dirt in my hair. Like it's not going to go well.

You can't get hit by an 18 wheeler and it not have an effect. And the thing is, Jesus is bigger than an 18 wheeler. When when you meet Jesus genuinely, realistically in life, he has a tangible effect on you. It shows up. So for someone to say, oh, I'm a Christian and there's no evidence whatsoever.

It's simply not true. And so that's what we're looking at as we walk through the series is to say that we believe news. We're not saying this is what you have to do to be a Christian. We're saying Jesus died for us. And because of that, it affects us. This event happened and it changes us.

And that actually shows up in our lives. So I'm going to pray and then we're going to jump back into Mark. We'll be in chapter one today. But let's pray real quick. God, we just ask that you and your faithfulness and your love for us would be at work in our hearts today. To help us see ourselves clearly and see you clearly as we continue to ask the question of what it means to follow you.

In Jesus name. Amen. We're going to be in Mark chapter one. We're going to pick up in verse 16 right where we left off last week. So last week, Jesus began preaching.

The kingdom of time is fulfilled. The kingdom of heaven is at hand. Repent and believe in the gospel. So we just talked about that repentance is the way that you enter into the way you respond to the coming kingdom and the way you live in the kingdom. And immediately following that, we're going to see him begin to interact with people that will be his disciples, would be his followers. So it's on page 543.

If you have a blue and white Bible, if you don't own a Bible, take this one with you. It's our gift to you. Verse 16. Later in the series, we're going to spend a little bit of time looking at that. I will make you become fishers of men. But today we're really just looking at the follow me and kind of their response.

Follow me and I will make you become fishers of men. And then immediately they left their nets and followed him. And going on a little farther, he saw James, the son of Zebedee and John, his brother, who were in their boat, mending the nets. And immediately he called them and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants and followed him. Okay. So what we just saw is Jesus picks up four disciples, Simon, Andrew, James and John.

Simon and Andrew are brothers. Simon later becomes Peter. Jesus gives him a nickname. And James and John also get nicknames. They're called the Sons of Thunder. That doesn't have anything to do with what we're talking about today, but just while we're covering nicknames.

And so he gets four disciples today. And here's what happens. He walks up into the middle of them working. Simon and Andrew are throwing a net into the water. James and John are mending their nets in a boat. And he just walks up and says, hey, follow me.

And they do. They drop what they're doing and they begin to follow Jesus. And this moment in their lives redirects the course of their life. This moment here where they drop what they're doing and follow Jesus changes everything for them. So that all four of these men, three of them will die for their faith in Jesus.

They will die for having said yes to Jesus saying, follow me. And John dies not of being murdered, but he dies while being exiled on an island for his faith in Jesus. So he dies of old age on an island where he was exiled. He was boiled in oil before that. He just didn't die. But all four of these men, this moment in their lives where Jesus says, follow me, and they say yes, drastically alters their life.

And here's what I want us to see from the very beginning. Jesus is disruptive. Period. Period. He's disruptive. When Jesus comes into your life, things begin to change.

That's just how it works. He doesn't just slide in and everything works swimmingly and exactly the same from that point on. He's disruptive. He steps in and when he steps in and when he comes into your life, he messes things up. He changes up your schedule. He changes up your time.

He calls you away from what you're doing to do other things. Like Jesus automatically, when he comes into your life, is disruptive. Some of you, if you would sit in here today and say, I'm a Christian, but Jesus, he's not disruptive. He fits right in. Fits right into my schedule. He's fit right into my life.

He just slid right in and has just been helpful. He hadn't tried to change anything. Hadn't like, I would just put forth. That's not Jesus. You. It's not Jesus.

Because Jesus is disruptive. That's how he works. That's like saying, I want to get a tattoo, but I don't like needles and I don't want it to hurt. You don't want to get a tattoo. I want, I want a Lexus, but I want it to have the rolly kind of windows. You're not getting a Lexus.

That's not, they don't make those. That's not how that works. And if you say, no, no, Jesus is fit right in. Like he hadn't been disruptive at all. That's not Jesus. You don't meet that Jesus in scripture.

The Jesus that walks around in scripture is absolutely continuously, aggressively disruptive. When Jesus comes into your life, things change. Now I want to show us something. I want us to take a minute to look at something. I think Mark does very intentionally in this passage. So when we write books, so the way, the way Westerners write books.

And if you read books, I know a lot of people in America don't read another book after they graduate high school or college. But maybe you remember reading some while you were in high school or college. Maybe some of you are in high school or college and you're familiar with books there. It's like a television, but you have to, you have like, okay. Anyway, the way we write books is there's information about the scene and the setting and what it looks like. And a good author can really help you like picture it.

So they talk about the way things smelled or the way things looked or what the room was like. They give you some scenery. They paint it up a little bit. So J.K. Rowling or Rowling, I don't know how to say her last name. She wrote the Harry Potter series, you know, Harry Potter, Voldemort, all that stuff.

She wrote a bunch of books and they were all very well written and they're all thick. And they got thicker and thicker as she went. It's like she had more and more to say as she went along. And she does really well with like painting up the scene. But she recently wrote a play called The Cursed Child.

She wrote a play. She what? She co-wrote a play. That's actually not the important part here, guys. I wish you will see in a second. But thank you for keeping me honest.

I don't know enough about Harry Potter to be talking right now. Which now makes me want to say a bunch of bad things. But like, you know, in Harry Potter, Dumbledore Calrissian has to take the ring of power to Mordor. You're welcome. The difference between a book and a play. This is the point I was getting to, although I gave way more information than I needed to.

The difference between a book and a play is this. In a play, every bit of information matters. It's just dialogue. And if they give any other information, it has something to do with the story. If they give any other details, it has to do with the setting. It has to do with what the characters are doing.

It does not, in a play, when someone writes out a play, they don't write up a whole bunch of scenery for you. They don't explain the way people felt. They just give you the dialogue and they give you some key, essential information. The Gospels are written like that. If there's information in the Gospels, it was written down for a reason. It was not just because Mark was like, and it was a pretty day outside, and the breeze was blowing.

He doesn't do that. The information given is important. So we're going to walk back through and we're going to put a little bit of pressure on the way Mark writes this because I think he did it on purpose. I don't think he wrote it out this way by happenstance. I think he was led and through the leadership of the Holy Spirit wrote it out specifically the way he did. And so we're going to look at this.

Okay, go back to verse 16. So he tells us what they were. This is who they were. They were fishermen. That's how they understood their place in the world. That's how other people understood their place in the world.

That's how they knew who they were. They were fishermen. And Jesus said to them, follow me and I will make you become fishers of men. And immediately they left their what? They left their what? Yeah, this is participation time.

And I know like we don't usually do this. Nets. Yes, they left their nets. They were fishermen and they left their nets. Okay, let's keep going. And going on a little farther, he saw James, the son of Zebedee and John, his brother, who were in their boat, mending the nets.

Okay, how does he describe James and John? Does he tell us they're fishermen? No. What's he tell us about them? What's their identifying marker? Son of Zebedee.

So are they fishermen? I would assume so. They're in a boat working on nets. But he doesn't call them fishermen. He calls them son of Zebedee. And then he says this.

And immediately he called them and they left what? I got a lot of time, guys. I'm good. They left what? Yeah. They left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants and followed him.

So they left him in the boat. They left him with the other people who were fishing. They left him with the nets. But that's not what Mark says they left. What Mark says they left was their father Zebedee. So what he just did was he said, Simon and Andrew were fishermen.

That's their identifying marker. And when Jesus called them, they left their nets. And James and John were the son of Zebedee. That's their identifying marker. And when he called them, they left their father Zebedee. Jesus is not only disruptive.

He walks into your life. He takes whatever you use to identify yourself. Whatever is absolutely primary to you. And he says, I'm taking the place of this. You have to let go of this for me. That's how Jesus works.

The only position he accepts in your life is first place. That's why it was important for Mark to write down that the fishermen left their nets and the sons of Zebedee left their father. Because if you ask them, what was the hardest thing to give up that day? Simon and Andrew are going to say, we were fishermen. We had to give up fishing. We had to give up our nets.

We had to give up possessions. We had to give up our career to follow him. That was what was going through their mind. That was what they had to let go of. That's what they were looking at and thinking about when Jesus said, follow me. But if you ask James and John, what did you leave?

They say we left our father. Because that's how they understood their existence. That's how they understood their identity. Let me explain something to you. We were designed by God. We were created.

So we're creatures. We're designed because we're creatures to have something be primary for us. Something has to be foundational. Something has to be the most important. It's just the way we're made. And everyone in this room has something in that spot.

And whatever you use to find your identity, whatever you use to say, this is how I fit in the world. This is what makes me okay. This is what gives me purpose. This is what makes me want to wake up tomorrow. Whatever you put there is God functionally for you. Whatever is your purpose, your identity, how you would describe yourself, how you know you're you and that you matter.

Whatever you put there is God because that was the role he was designed to fill. When he created us, that was the spot that he's supposed to be in. What gives us life and purpose and worth and value is him. That's why when Jesus shows up, that's the spot he claims. It's the only spot he'll take. So when Jesus comes into your life, not only is he disruptive, he is aggressively disruptive because he wants to claim primary role in your heart, in your time, in your life.

So for a Christian, we talked last week about life being a life of repentance, continually turning away from sin. We honestly don't sin until we've put something else in that spot. Until we've looked at Jesus and said, I'd rather have this than you. That's what leads us into sin. Thinking that something else matters more than Jesus so it's worth pursuing more than he is. So that we'll say no to him to say yes to that.

When that happens, we've moved that to the spot of superiority. Does that make sense? Anything that goes in number one slot, everything else ultimately serves that or everything else ultimately can be bumped out of the way, out of life for that. So let me give you an example. On your budget. Let me go back real quick.

A budget is a thing that you use to know where your money goes. Some of y'all. Talk with our toast team. They will help you make a budget. They are helpful. Okay, on your budget, there are things at the top on your expenses that matter more than the things at the bottom.

Unless you like alphabetize it, but just you realize there's a rank system here. There are things you're paying for first before you pay for other things. So when you start to run out of money, there are things you say no to. You pay your rent before your Netflix bill. If you've got that backwards, our toast team will help you make a budget. This is how this works.

First, you're paying your electricity before you're going to Frankie's Fun Park. There are things that go to the top of the list that when things get tight, when money gets tight, you're choosing what are we paying and you're paying what's most important. And if anything gets above Jesus, ultimately he serves that or he'll get bumped out of the way for that. So if you said, my family, my children matter most to me. And Jesus, I love Jesus and I worship Jesus and I follow Jesus, but ultimately my children are at the top. And maybe you wouldn't say it that way, but your life says that.

Here's what happens. Jesus is a means to an end for you to have a good family, to have safe children. Oh, it is so wonderful to know that the God of the universe loves your children and you can ask him for things. And you can ask him to protect your children and watch over your children and help your children. It's so good to know that the God of the universe will help provide for your children. So you're using Jesus for the safety of your children.

Your children are well behaved if they actually follow what the Bible says. They don't cause problems. They treat their parents well. That's one of the ten, you guys. Honor your mother and father. That's in the Ten Commandments.

It actually has a promise. It'll go well with you if you do. Like, that's great. And so if you have children that are in Sunday school and they're reading their Bibles and stuff, it makes them happier. It makes them better. It keeps life good for them.

And Jesus serves your children. But if your family starts falling apart, if your children become rebellious, if their health fails, if God says, I want you to be a missionary, to Africa, suddenly it's a, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, I got kids. Can't. I didn't sign on for this. I got to worry about their safety. I got to worry about, like, their primary.

I got to, I started following you because I thought you were going to help me have a good family. I started following you because I thought you were going to help me protect my kids. I started following you because you were, like, what? You see, Jesus is serving them the whole time. And this happens with all kinds of things. So I, I know in my own life, when I have, in my marriage, I've sinned.

I've sinned against God. I've sinned against Anna. And I found, that I know the Bible says you should repent and confess. You should tell your wife what you did. And my response to that is, no, thank you. Kind sir.

Like, this is, this has been a real thing in my life where I have had very big things I needed to talk to her about. Because I have found that when you tell your wife you sinned against her, she doesn't like it. That's something I picked up on. And so I wasn't really willing to talk about it. And here, here's, here's what I came to realize. I was saying no to Jesus.

No to our relationship being good. No to me following him. Because I really wanted to protect the relationship I have with my wife. I was defending that one because I was more afraid of her being upset with me. More afraid of her leaving. More afraid of her, the discomfort that that would cause.

And so what I was saying was, no, no, no, Jesus, you're great for a lot of things, but in my marriage, I'm going to let her kind of rank above you. And we can do this with anything. You can do this with success. You can do this with pleasure. You can do that. I mean, you name it.

So if, if pleasure is primary for you, then your time and your money go towards what brings me the most enjoyment. What makes me the happiest? What, what do I enjoy the most? Like that's, that's how I understand the good life is that I can do what I want. I can eat out when I want. I can go to, to movies.

I can go on vacations. I can, that's the good life. And then Jesus shows up and says, Hey, uh, your money isn't meant to terminate on you. You should actually start giving some away. And you go, Ooh, I really can't. My budget's really tight.

When, when Jesus says, follow me. And when pleasure says, follow me, you follow pleasure. Work. Get your time, your energy. You spend your money on things that help you work better, that make work better, that I need this clothes for work. I need this suit for work.

I need this equipment for work. And, and then when Jesus steps in and says, no, this is how your family life is supposed to work. This is how following me is supposed to work. You say, no, no, no, no. When work says, follow me, or Jesus says, follow me, you follow work. Because the, the one thing Jesus is going to call you to drop is the one thing you're using to give yourself an identity.

And he's going to call you to, to get rid of sin. And he's going to call you to turn away from a lot of things. And a lot of that may be hard. You may like it. The thing that, that you're going to have to wrestle with the most and the thing you're going to want to pick up the most. And the thing that in your story, you're going to say, I had to leave behind is the one thing that you were using.

To identify yourself, to give yourself value and worth. Whatever it was in your heart that was primary. So here, here's our goal today. If Mark was writing about you, what does he say? Jesus walked up to, blank, and he said, follow me. What, what does he say was your identity?

And what does he say you left behind? Now here, I want to point something out to us. James and John stay the son of Zebedee. Simon and Andrew do fish again. Fishing isn't bad. That's not the point of this passage.

Having Zebedee be your dad isn't bad. That's not the point of this passage. Honoring your father, understanding your life in relationship to your father isn't bad. That's not the point. Your children, your spouse, working heart, pleasure. Pleasure isn't bad, y'all.

It's actually really enjoyable. Have y'all noticed that? God made it that way on purpose. The Bible actually says that pleasures are at his right hand forever. Like, he's the one who made pleasure pleasurable. It's good.

All those things are good. Most everything that we would put as primary in our life is actually a really good thing. A gift from God. The issue Jesus has is they can't be number one. And you're going to have to say no to them to say yes to him. That's why he says stuff like, if you come to me and you don't hate your father and mother, your children and your wife, and it's like, whoa, hate?

What? How do you say that? Like, that's crazy. You said to love your enemies, to love those that hate you. How are you then going to tell me to hate my wife? That sounds like really bad marriage advice.

His point isn't to actively hate. His point is that he has to be so far above everything else that nothing else compares. That's why he says if you don't deny yourself and take up your cross, you can't follow me. That's why when people come to him and say, Jesus, I'm going to follow you. And he says, come on. And they say, well, let me go bury my dad.

And he says, no, let me go back and tell my family goodbye. No, it's crazy. What he asks of us, how disruptive he is, but what he steps into every single follower of his and says, this thing right here that you used to make your identity out of this thing right here that you used to say, this is what makes me. Okay. This is what gives me value. This is what gives me worth.

This is how I know life makes sense. That thing right there has to move. That's the place I get. And so for those of us who have said, I'm following Jesus. It's pretty, pretty simple. Not real hard.

I'm not sure he's shown up and done that for you yet. I'm not sure you've moved that out of the way for him yet. So what would, what would your story be? What is it that you sacrifice for? What is it that you give your time and energy and money for? What is it that you use to understand your existence and light up?

You don't have to have it. You can be really poor and it can be money. You just know that once you get money, you'll be happy. You can be single and it can be your future magical spouse that rides unicorns and comes down from rainbow, rainbow land. Like I, I don't know. You could have some future.

Once this happens, I'll be happy. Once this happens, I'll be good. This is what'll fix me. And I'll bend heaven and earth to get to it. And if following Jesus helps me get there, great. I'll let Jesus work for me.

Proverbs 14, 12 says this. We're gonna have it on the screen. I love this verse. It is so helpful to me. There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death. It's not a very uplifting verse, but it is very helpful.

Some of you maybe have been sitting here going, no, no, no. The thing I'm chasing after Jesus would be totally on board with. It's good. If I get that, it would be good. It's not a bad thing. That's true.

It probably isn't, but this is true. There's stuff that we look at and say, if I just got that, I'd be happy. If I could just do this, it'd be fine. If I could just reach this, achieve this, be this, have this title, have this amount of money in the bank, have this type of success or this type of family or live in this type of place. And what Proverbs says is there's a way that seems really right to you and ultimately leads to destruction. Won't fix you.

Won't save you. Won't save you. Leads to death. So when Jesus steps in and says, I want to be primary, he's actually offering us joy. He's actually pursuing our joy. So, Jesus, if he wanted your begrudging submission, could get it.

Are you aware of that? I don't know. A lot of people just understand Jesus as being really nice. He controls everything and is in charge of everything. He could show up and immediately be like, bow down and you would. Did y'all know that?

We know that? We good on that? He can do that. He can put you in a submission hold. He can do it. That doesn't bring him a lot of glory.

It brings him glory because he's ultimately in charge of everything. But that's not his desire for you. His desire is that you would enjoy him. That you would love him. That you would respond to him. You see, begrudging submission isn't his desire for you.

Enjoyment of him is desire for you. See what? The reason he comes in and says, I have to be primary is because he is primary. He's the best thing you could ever get. He's the best thing he could ever offer you. If Jesus showed up and said, Hey guys, just want to let you know you should all be chasing money.

Then money would be God. And Jesus should serve it. When Jesus shows up and says, you should all get rid of everything and love me. He's saying, this is the best way to happiness because I'm the best thing that exists. And it's actually in our enjoyment of him that he gets a lot of glory. Do you, if some of you are married, some of you are dating, some of you aren't dating yet, but maybe you want to date or want to get married or something.

Do you imagine that when you, before you were married, did you imagine, I can't wait till I meet a person who begrudgingly submits to marrying me. Oh, I can't wait for the day that we celebrate our 50th wedding anniversary. And they look over at me and say, I did my duty. And every day was drudgery. Because you're the worst. But I stuck with it.

I can't, I just cry just thinking about it. Like, did you do that? Do you think about that? Is that your goal? Would that be enjoyable? Would you get a lot of pleasure out of that?

No, that, that what you want is someone who loves you for you, who appreciates you, who enjoys you, who wants to be around you because they enjoy you. They like it. 50 years in, they say it didn't feel like 50 years. Some of it, some of it did, but it felt, it was mostly good. We've been married for 50 years, 42 good ones. Like, whatever.

That's what you want. And that's Jesus when he says, I want to be primary. It's not, I want you to begrudgingly submit to you, submit to me. It's, I want you to understand that I'm the best that could ever be offered to you. And Isaiah 55, we'll have this on the screen as well. There's a prophet's writing and he says this, come everyone who thirsts, come to the waters and he who has no money, come buy and eat, come buy wine and milk without money and without price.

Um, this, this is reused, rephrased in the book of Revelation, talking about coming to God, coming to heaven, that that's, he freely gives good things that you don't have to have money to come get from him. That's grace that Jesus dies and freely gives us himself. And he says this, why do you spend your money for that which is not bread and your labor for that which does not satisfy? You know, the, the two commodities you'll have in your life that everybody has, you have some money. That's one of them. That's one of the ways that we place value is money.

The other one's labor, your time and energy. And what the prophet's saying is why, why do you spend your money and your time and energy on something that ultimately will not satisfy you, that ultimately will not bring life, that ultimately cannot hold the weight of being the foundation of your life and your identity? Why do you do that? Why does your, why does your labor and your money go to something that will not fix you, will not make you okay, will not satisfy you? Listen diligently to me. Pay attention and eat what is good and delight yourselves in rich food.

Incline your ear and come to me. Hear that your soul may live. See, I love that. He says, eat what's good, eat rich food. The call of Jesus to us to come to him is not, Hey, I've got a worse offer. You like that good stuff.

How do you feel about terrible things? That's not what he says. He says, come to what's better. Come to what actually satisfies. Come to what actually fills you up. Come to what actually fixes you.

I will make with you an everlasting covenant. My steadfast, sure love for David. In the Old Testament, God came to David and said, I'm going to love you and I'm going to make a king out of you forever. This promise is fulfilled in Jesus. The prophet Isaiah is saying, come to Jesus. And he'll make the same promise with you that he'll welcome you and love you forever.

And he'll give you rich and good food, which is ultimately what your soul needs. You see, we all have something. We all have something that we're using to say, this is who I am. This is what makes me okay. This is what makes me good. This is why I get up in the morning.

There's a journalist named Malcolm Muggeridge. He's talking about political hopes and failures in his book. And he, he talks about that. They had this political guy that they just really wanted to get into office. And they said, we, he said, we got exactly what we asked for. And then he has this quote.

He says, the really terrible thing about life is not that our dreams are unrealized, but that they come true. So the worst thing about life is not that we don't get what we want, but that we do get what we want. And ultimately doesn't satisfy, doesn't fix us. The worst part about life is that all our little dreams come true and it wasn't good enough. Jim Carrey says this. In our culture, I got, I got quotes from a couple of different famous people because in our culture, we've really bought into the idea that if you were really rich, good looking, uh, and had like people knew you, then you, that would be great.

That would be the best. Like we, our culture's kind of just bought into that idea. I know that I've bought into that idea every time the lottery gets really big and I go buy a lottery ticket. And I'm filling out my little Numbers and bubbling them in. It's like the, you know, first time I've done a scantron since high school. And I, I think, wouldn't it be so great to get $43 billion or whatever it comes up to?

You know what I'm saying? Like it's, it's been crazy recently. You remember the one this past summer or whatever, when everybody was going crazy past spring? Like I think I'm running around thinking, oh, it would be so good. And really what I think in those moments is if I had a lot of money, I'd be fixed. I wouldn't want anything else.

I'd be happy. I'd be content. Everything would be good. I'd skip everywhere. I'd giggle. I'd just giggle.

And people would be like, why are you giggling? You're a grown man. I'd be like, I'm so rich. You don't even know. I giggle anytime I want to. Here's a thousand dollars.

Don't tell nobody. Like I could do whatever. Our culture, we really believe that. We really believe that if you had power, if you had fame, if you had money, you'd be happy. You'd be fixed. So I've got a couple of quotes from people.

Because really, celebrities should be the happiest people we've got, right? They should be so content and so happy and joyous and fun to be around, right? Okay. So here's Jim Carrey. I think everybody should get rich and famous and do everything they ever dreamed so they can see that it's not the answer. Jim Carrey says, I wish all your dreams could come true so that you could know that wasn't it.

Okay, but maybe you're like, well, Jim Carrey, really? Liar, liar? That's who we're talking about here? Here's Brad Pitt talking to the Rolling Stones, like the Rolling Stone magazine. Like, it doesn't get cooler than this, you guess. Brad Pitt, Rolling Stones, this is amazing.

So some of you, I know you've just thought, man, if I could just have Brad Pitt's money or if I could just have Brad Pitt's, maybe his wife or his face or his like abs, life would just be better if I just had a little bit of Brad Pitt. Like if I could just be kind of as cool as Brad Pitt in even his bad movies, life would be better. Here's Brad Pitt talking to Rolling Stones. What does it mean anyway? I had an idealistic thought of what fame is. I thought, yes, lovely, I'm going to be famous and everything will change, but it doesn't.

If you ask me, I say toss all this. We have to find something else. The emphasis now is on success and personal gain. I'm sitting in it and I'm telling you that that's not it. I'm the guy who has everything. I know.

And I'm telling you that once you have everything, then you are just left with yourself. It doesn't help you sleep any better and you don't wake up any better because of it. See, the problem with us is that we won't ever get everything. I'm not going to win the lottery, so I'll continue to believe that it'll fix me. See, these guys have it and they're going, guys, this isn't going to fix you. At best, once all your dreams are fulfilled, you're just stuck with you and there's got to be more to it.

I got one more from Tom Brady. He says this, why do I have three Super Bowl rings and still think there's something greater out there for me? I mean, maybe a lot of people would say, hey man, this is what it is. You know, I reached my goal, my dream, my life. Me, I think, God, it's got to be more than this. I mean, this can't be what it's all cracked up to be.

I mean, I've done it. I'm 27. What else is there for me? When Jesus walked up to Andrew and John, when he walked up to Simon and James, and he said, follow me, his invitation was one of joy and life and hope, even though it ended in hardship and death for them. It was the best invitation they ever got. Because he said, even if this all works out for you, it ends in death.

It doesn't end in joy and satisfaction. It's not what will fill you up. Your only hope is me. And the only position I'll take is first. If you're a Christian, that's the position of Jesus in your life. That's why we continually repent, because we continually see that we put something else up there.

So our goal today, I've got a few questions to just try to help us identify. What do I have as primary right now? What, what's in that spot for me? What have I placed in that spot? So if you're a note taker, take some notes, write some stuff down, and then we're going to end a little bit differently today than, than we usually do.

But I think it'll be helpful. So I've just got some questions, some things to run through pretty quickly to try to help us find, if Mark was writing your story, what would he say? This is, this is her name, this is how she identifies herself, and this is what she's got to let go of for Jesus to be primary. What would he say? This is his name, this is his identity, and this is what he's got to let go of. Okay, what's Jesus not allowed to mess with?

It's pretty straightforward. What in your life can he not touch? What is it he reached for, reaches for, and you pop his hand? Say, no, no, no. I didn't invite you here for that. What's your, can I still go to heaven if?

You hear people ask that question, can I still, well, can you still go to heaven if blank? Sometimes it's a genuine question. Other times it's, hey, can I love this thing more than Jesus and still get there? What's the one thing you've been arguing in your head about? The whole time we've been talking. What's the thing that keeps popping up and you keep going, no, no, no, no, that's not that.

Jesus loves that. That would be great. That's not, that's, that's not it. What's the one thing you don't want me to bring up? What's the thing if I started talking about it right now, you'd be like, okay, this is the worst sermon I've ever heard. That's probably it.

That's the thing you're really afraid he'll come take from you. That's the thing you really have to have. You don't want him to mess with it. Okay. So these are a little less straightforward.

If you're having a hard time thinking about it, really trying to figure out is Jesus in that spot or is something else there? So this is just, is he there? Is he not? Are you reading your Bible? Do you have a prayer life? Is that something that takes up your time?

If we're trying to figure out are we following Jesus? Are you more discipled by Netflix? Or ESPN? Or YouTube? Or some other app I haven't heard about? Does he take up your time or is there something else?

Something else talking to you more, teaching you more about how life should work, about how you should understand your worth and your value? When you see your sin, how do you respond? Do you repent? Are you heartbroken over it? When you see that something else matters more to you than Jesus, what do you do? Do you care?

What's the easiest thing for you to spend your money on? See, there's some things when it comes to your money you have to think about. There are other things where it's like your wallet magically appears in your hand. What will you spend your money on? Where do you place value when it comes to your, when you look at your budget? Is it your own comfort?

Is it most of your money goes to savings because that's one of the best ways to control your future? Is it status symbols like clothes and cars and houses? Something that makes it look like you've arrived? The opposite side of that is where does Jesus fit into your money? Does some of your money go to his church, to his people, to people who don't have money or food? How much of your budget looks like Jesus was radically generous towards you?

So of course you're radically generous towards others. What's the thing you organize your schedule around? And what's the easiest thing for you to organize your schedule around? When there's scheduling conflicts or time conflicts, what wins? Do kids win? Does your own leisure time win?

Does work win? Does work win? What's easily put in the schedule? What gets easily bumped? What are you laboring for? Where's your time and energy go?

All right, let's look at your emotions for a second. What are you angriest about? What do you have the hardest time forgiving? You see, our emotions are usually tied to things we love. What are you most afraid of? What are you most afraid of losing?

Here's the last one, and this is a big one. When you and Jesus disagree, who wins? And is there a specific category where you always win? You see, there's some things Jesus is going to show up, you're going to read in the Bible you already kind of agree with, and so when he says you should do this, you just say, yeah, smart, sounds good. And there are other things he's going to say, you should do this or you shouldn't do that, and you're going to go, whoa, I'm going to need you to explain. I'm going to need you to win me over.

So maybe some of you, when he says, hey, you should be generous, you go, yeah, we should. We should be generous, and we should be giving to the poor, and we should be helping the homeless, and the people who aren't probably don't really follow Jesus. And when he says you shouldn't have sex if you're not married, you go, whoa, but we're in love. But we really, like, we care about each other, plus I'm also pretty sure that passage probably doesn't really mean what people say it means, and they didn't really, you know, it's translated from other, like, you know, and some of you are like, no, no sex.

That's right. We shouldn't have sex unless you're married. And then the Bible says you should have sex if you are married. But, like, those are the rules. But it's like you should give up some of your money, and you're like, well, some, how much, what's the percentage?

It's really tight. My money's tight right now. When you and Jesus disagree, who wins? And is there a category right now where you just win? Jesus died for you. Because he loves you.

When Jesus invited them to follow him, he was already on his way to give up everything for them. And when Jesus invited you to follow him, he had already given up everything for you. He'd laid it all down so that you could be related to him, so that he could bring you back to himself. He's ultimately trustworthy, and he is absolutely after your joy. And that's why he won't let you have the harmful things you want. And that's why he says, I have to be primary, because that's the only thing that leads to joy and life and satisfaction and hope.

And if anything else gets put there, it throws your life out of whack, it robs you of joy, and ultimately it ends in death. Jesus died on a cross so that you could be his, so that you could have ultimate joy and satisfaction and hope in him forever. He's trustworthy. He loves you. And him calling you to put something down is for your own good, for your own joy, even though it's going to be really hard. I think Simon and Andrew forever remembered the day they put their nets down.

And it wasn't just letting go of the nets, it was genuinely deciding, I'm going to follow him and I'm leaving this behind. And I think James and John forever know the day they looked at their father and said, I'm following Jesus. I think they remember it. And I think something happened in their heart that day that every time they saw their father again, they loved him, but he wasn't in the same spot anymore. It wasn't how they defined their life anymore. They were going to follow Jesus.

They were going to go for bust. No matter how that worked out, because they knew Jesus was worth it. And how much more for us on this side of the cross, knowing how much he's going to give up for us to welcome us and to make us his. Can we follow him and trust him? So here's, here's how we're going to end today.

We're not going to play any music. We're not going to make this any smoothier. Here's what I want us to do. If you've been sitting here today and genuinely the Holy Spirit has been pressing on you, this is what you got to put down. This is the thing you're holding on. This is the thing you won't let go of, and you've got to put it down.

You've got to walk away from it. You've got to follow me. If that's you, here's, here's what I want us to do. I just want you to take a minute. I want you to write it down. I want the cards in front of you.

And here's what we're going to do. And here's why we're going to do it. I want us to have the opportunity to walk down and lay the card up here. And here's why. When Jesus came to James and John, when he came to Simon and Andrew, they had the opportunity to make a movement. They had the opportunity to act immediately.

Now, they had to continually reinforce that from then on. It's going to be really hard to stand up and walk over here and lay something down, but it's going to get exponentially harder the moment you walk out of there. This will be the easiest time to lay it down. Because it's just a mental step for you to say, I'm trying to lay this down, Jesus. I want you to be primary. I'm trying to follow you and I'm trying to say no to this.

But every other moment, you actually have to do it. See, James and John and Simon and Andrew had the chance to move. They had the chance to let go of the nets and walk. They had the chance to look at their father and walk. And I want us to have the same opportunity to make a movement, to concretely put this in our brains. This is what I'm trying to do.

I know that Jesus saves me. I know that he died for my sin. I know that I'm free and I don't have to accomplish anything for him and I don't have to earn anything for him. But I know he's got to be primary and I've got to let go of this because it leads to death and it doesn't. It robs me of joy and my hope is found in him. So I want you to have the opportunity to move.

And I want it to not be smooth or easy. We're not cutting the lights off. We're not playing music. I think there was an awkward moment between Zebedee and his sons. And I think if Jesus has been working on you, you need to move. This will be the best time to do it.

And then you'll have to continually do it as you walk this out with church family, as you continually confess and repent this and continually try to set it down. Let's pray. God, we thank you. Thank you that you love our joy and our hope and our life more than we do, that you were willing to die for it, to rescue us, to make us yours. God, we thank you that with you is joy and pleasure and goodness and rich food. And I pray that you'd help us to quit trading it out for something smaller.

Quit chasing after something that won't satisfy us, that won't fill us up. And God, I pray that you'd help us to respond. I pray that you'd help us to respond now. But more than that, God, I pray that you'd help us to respond every day for the rest of our lives to continually follow you, to continue to set something down, to continue to say goodbye to something, and to continue to put you in the place of primacy in our lives. We thank you that you're good and that you're trustworthy and that we can follow you. And we love you in Jesus' name.

Amen. I'd encourage you to respond if the Holy Spirit's been working in you, to know that Jesus looked them in the face and said, follow me, and you have the same opportunity today to follow Jesus, to let something go, and to follow after him where there's joy and freedom and life and hope, ultimate satisfaction. And don't just do it because you feel like you're supposed to, because we're talking about it or because that would be the thing to do. Do it if you actually genuinely are saying, Jesus, I want to follow you and I want you to help me. I'm going to sit down. In a minute, the band's going to come back up and we're going to sing together and celebrate that Jesus is good.

Repent and Believe

Repent and Believe

Chet Phillips

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Transcript

Well, hi, how we doing? Wow, not any better than earlier. I was taking a shot. I thought we had woken up a little bit. I'm sorry. We are in our second week of our Follow Me series, and I'm excited about this series.

Last week we got to celebrate baptism, and we got to just kind of intro this series, talk a little bit about what we're going to be doing in this series. And I'm excited because we're just taking some time to say, what does it look like for us in Columbia in 2016 to follow Jesus? Like, how does that show up? What does that look like in life to be a Christian? And I think it's going to be helpful for us because as a church we've got a lot of new believers, a lot of people who are like, okay, I believe this gospel. I believe that Jesus died for my sin.

Like, my faith is there. Now what? Like, what do I do now? And then we've got a lot of people who maybe you've been a Christian a while. You'd say, yeah, I'm a Christian, but it's like I'm just now trying to get into the swing of actually following, letting this kind of impact day-to-day life for me. And so I'm just excited about this series.

We get to just take a little time in the Gospel of Mark to look and see, okay, what did it look like for Jesus' followers? What does Jesus say? What is this supposed to – how is this going to show up for us? And particularly helpful because our culture is just kind of confused about Christianity. So if any Christians on any kind of media, any kind of TV show or anything, like we really have two types of representatives.

Just so you all know, like when somebody is writing a sitcom and they make a Christian character, like here are our options. Condescending, judgmental. Like we've got that character. A lot of times it doesn't have anything to do with actually how they behave. So like if you think of Angela from The Office, she's just condescending, but she doesn't behave any better.

Like she just looks down on everybody and then does the same stuff. And it's like, okay, so hypocritical and condescending. And then we just get kind of like goofy slash weird. So we've got Ned Flanders. Every once in a while in like really intense movies, we'll just have like a weird person on the street holding a sign. Like they're just a bit part where it's like repent, the end is nigh, and that's it.

And then like, you know, the robot kills them or whatever. And so like those are the characters we get. Even in the South where supposed to be the Bible Belt, supposed to be more Christians, we're just kind of confused about what it means to be a Christian, what it looks like to be a Christian. And so like I have conversations with people. I remember I was working with a guy and he found out I was a pastor. We were starting a church.

And he said, oh, cool, yeah, like you're a Christian? I was like, yeah. He said, yeah, me too. I used to go to a Lutheran church with my mom when I was little. And I was like, okay. But that was it.

He didn't have anything else to it. Like there was the, I went to this VBS. Maybe I prayed a prayer. I got baptized when I was young. My favorite one, I was talking with a guy I played football with in high school. And I said, are you a Christian?

He said, Chet, I'm black. So yeah, at the time I was white and I didn't know about the exemption. Like I didn't, I didn't understand. I just was kind of like, I don't know. But like that's kind of, I was born in the South.

My mom went to a Methodist church. My uncle was a deacon. Like we have all these answers for like, this is what makes me a Christian. And you don't find those in scripture. So what we're looking at is saying like, what does it look like to be a Christian?

How does this show up? Because if we actually believe something, it shows up. If we actually believe something, it shows up in how we act. It shows up in what we, like what we do. And that's what we're going to spend a little bit of time looking at. Like you ever met somebody who just believes in coffee?

Like they, they believe in it. I believe in coffee. I had someone tell me earlier that I needed to get a camelback with coffee in it. But like people who believe in coffee, they buy coffee. They get things to grind coffee. They, they have coffee with them when you see them.

Like they, you ever met a vegan that actually believed it? They told you. Ever met somebody who did CrossFit and they believed it? Like they, that's like, that's how they introduce themselves. It's like, hey, I'm Chet. Hi, I do CrossFit.

Well, okay, back up. Like, I don't know. Like if you, you know what I'm talking about? Like someone who's really drank the Kool-Aid for the Republican Party or the Democratic Party. Or libertarians, those people, they believe it. Like they will tell you.

Like if we believe something, it shows up in life. And if we're actually a part of something, that shows up also. So if I told you, and I haven't told many people this, but I am actually on the Dallas Cowboys football team. Like if I told you that, your immediate response is, no. No, you're not. And if I said why, you'd be like, well, how much time do you have?

You don't live in Dallas. No, you're not. You are unathletic. Like this isn't happening. Like do you want me to keep going because it's going to get offensive? Like there would be things.

I'd have to go to practice. I'd have to be there. I'd have to, like, what do you mean? Like you must be defining this differently. And so in our culture, there are a lot of people who say, I'm a Christian. And immediately it's like, you must be defining it differently than the Bible does.

And so as a church, what we want to do is say, like, what does the Bible say to be a Christian? What does the Bible say would show up? What does the Bible say life looks like for us as Christians? And so that's what we're spending the next four weeks just looking at some basic. This is a part of your life if you're a Christian. For every Christian in the room, for every Christian in any room, anywhere, this is a part of your life.

Let's pray and then we'll jump into Mark. God, we thank you that we do get to follow you and that we get to believe good news. I pray that you would, through your Holy Spirit, speak to us this morning and work on our behalf that we might grow in our understanding of what it means to follow you. We love you. We praise you in Jesus' name. Amen.

So how do you know you're a Christian? What does that look like? What shows up? And so let's jump right into Mark chapter 1. We'll be in verses 14 and 15 today. We're going to look at the first words out of Jesus' mouth in Mark chapter 1.

If you have one of the blue and white Bibles on the row, it's going to be on page 543. If you do not own a Bible, take this one home with you. That's our gift to you. I want you to have a Bible. So 14 and 15, these are the first things Jesus says.

So it starts off this way. Now after John was arrested, that is John the Baptist. He had a big beard. He wore camels like hair, cloak thing, stood in the woods and yelled at people and ate bugs. So we don't get to hear much about him today, but there's a brief outline for you.

There you go. Eight bugs, lived in the woods, yelled at people. Some of you have an uncle like that. So after he was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee proclaiming the gospel of God. So stop there for just a second.

We talked about this last week. We said that the gospel, that word there means good news. And that is the primary difference between Christianity and every other religion, philosophy, thought process. That we have news. We have news about an event that happened. See, what Christianity says is that Jesus died on a cross, was buried in a grave, and three days later he rose from the dead.

And that through his death on our behalf, we can be saved. That he can pay for our sin. He can pay our debt before God. And that's news. It happened. We share that.

Christianity is not primarily a bunch of advice. Here's what you need to do to be good. Here's how you ought to behave. Here's the things that you need to do to be a Christian. And so even in this series, what we're saying is here's what shows up if you are a Christian. So we believe the news that Jesus died for us.

And if you actually place faith in Jesus, here's what shows up. Not do these things and then you can be a Christian. If you miss that, you miss the whole thing. Does that make sense? Like if you are a Christian, you'll do these things. Not do these things and you can be a Christian.

So the difference is between a king and a president. So right now we got people running for president and they are trying to show you that they're presidential. Like I'm pretty sure that was actually a thing that Trump said. I'm going to be so presidential it's going to blow your mind. It's like that automatically didn't sound very presidential to me. But okay.

Like you're going to be like, whoa, how presidential is this guy? That's a terrible Trump impersonation, but just go with me. Like they have to prove they look presidential and then maybe we'll let them be the president. Does that make sense? But if you were a king, if you were a prince or a princess and you had parents who were king and queen, they would say things to you like, hey, that's not how a queen Acts.

Hey, that's not how a king Acts. You need to do these things to act like a king and what they would be saying to you is because you're royalty, this is how you live because you're going to be king because you're going to be queen because you're already this identity. This is what shows up in your life. Whereas presidents, it's act this way and you might get to be it. Does that make sense? So what we're saying is if you're a Christian, this shows up.

That's the whole point of this. If you believe the gospel that Jesus died for our sins, if you believe that news and it changes you. Here's what shows up. So here's what he says. We're going to look at Jesus's message. So this is what he began proclaiming the gospel of God.

So we're going to see what he proclaimed. What's the gospel of God? What's he saying? And then we're going to see how he tells us to respond. Okay. And then we'll take what Jesus said in about two, like one sentence, and we'll make that last about 40 minutes.

You're welcome. So Jesus says this, the time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe in the gospel. The time is fulfilled. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe in the gospel.

So when he said this to his Jewish hearers, they knew what he was saying. When he says the time is fulfilled, the kingdom of God is at hand. What he's talking about is when God first made everything, it was the kingdom of God. He was in charge. He was the king. And humanity existed under God's rule.

Over creation, but under God. That's where humanity was placed. And everything was good while God was king. But Adam and Eve, our first parents, rebelled against God's kingship. They wanted to be king and queen. They wanted to be in charge.

They said, rather than having our lives orbit around you, we want everything to orbit around us. I want to be the center of the universe. That's what Adam and Eve said. And just so you know, every other human that has ever existed immediately lined up right behind Adam and Eve and said, that's the plan I'm going with as well. So your life has been you at the center trying to get everybody else to orbit around you.

Trying to get everybody else to think about you. Worry about you. Take care of you. Exist around you. That's been your goal your entire life. The way you walk through your day is, what do I like?

What do I want? How do I feel about that? What makes me happy? What makes me sad? That's how we process life. I have an 18-month-old.

That is the core of his little soul right now. My wife and I talk about this all the time. He is such an easy child to be a parent to when he is getting everything he wants. So easy. That's what makes me a great husband. Like, I'm a great husband when I get everything I want.

Like, that's how that works. And he's terrible when he realizes he doesn't get to be the center of the universe. And here's what he does. He throws things. Anything he's holding, or if he's not holding anything, he just throws a fit. He, like, yells and lays on the ground.

We've had to start grabbing him and saying, hey, you're not going to get to act like this. Nothing good happens here. Like, we've begun to train him that he doesn't get to be the center of the world. And here's the thing. I'm the same way. I just know that throwing fits doesn't work.

So I use flattery. Am I lying? I've learned. If you don't want to do what I want to do, my response shouldn't be, ah! And, like, hit you in the head. That's not going to work well.

I've moved beyond 18-month-old Chet, but I'm still doing the same thing. I just want you to care most about me. And that doesn't seem like so much to ask. The problem is, that's the same thing you want. That's why I went, we take a group picture. Whose face do you look at first?

Your face. I've actually taken a picture with just me and my wife. She showed it to me. And I looked and said, that's a good picture. And she has responded, my eyes are closed. And I was like, mental note.

Look at her face first. Before you talk. Because all I did was look at me and was like, I look great. Like, that's... Post that one to the Facebook. She's like, my eyes are closed.

It's like, well, we could crop you out. Nobody's going to care. Just put it on Facebook. But, like, that's... Our life has been, what do I like? What do I want?

And our goal has been to have... And nothing. Nothing makes you more miserable. Nothing makes you more unenjoyable to be around. Or sucks more joy out of your life. Than you having to be the center of everything.

And you worrying about, what do you like? What do you want? How am I feeling? How am I... Like, that sucks joy out of you. So what Jesus says is...

God was the king. And the Old Testament, when we rebelled, the Old Testament promised... After promise, after promise, after promise, after promise... I'm going to fix this. I'm going to right the ship. I'm going to be king again.

We're going to realign humanity and history back where it's supposed to be. And so Jesus steps on the scene and he says... The time is fulfilled. And every Jewish person understood immediately what he's talking about. The time is fulfilled. The promises are coming true.

What God has said repeatedly through Old Testament prophecy. Every time you've gotten together at the synagogue and read this. Every time you've had a festival or a feast. Every time you celebrated the Passover. What we were celebrating was that God's going to fix it. This is going to be the end.

And Jesus says the time is fulfilled. The kingdom of God is at hand. Meaning God is on the march. He's on the move. His kingdom is approaching. It's at the door.

And he is going to reestablish his reign over the earth. And here's the thing. Everything works better when God's in charge. You ever been on a team that just had a great coach? And when that coach was there, everything just worked? Great school with a good principal.

Or a great job with a good boss. Or maybe it was your home life. Maybe some of you were blessed. You come from a healthy home life. And when your dad was there. Or when your mom was there.

Everything just worked. And then when they had to travel for business. Or when the boss wasn't there. Everything just started to fall apart. That's earth. God was in charge.

And when he's the king. Everything clicks. Everything works. You ever been around a household where the children are in charge? Functionally? Like they don't have a job.

They don't pay for stuff. They don't drive the car. But they're in charge. Have you ever seen that work well? Like y'all have seen this, right? You've been to Walmart.

Like you've seen like the meltdowns. Where the parents are just trying to appease the child. And like you shouldn't be paying attention anymore. But now you've stopped. And you're going. Just hit them.

Take them down. You're bigger than they are. You can do it. Like you start rooting for the parent. Hey, now would be the time for some discipline. Like I mean just something.

Go for it. Children's miserable. Household doesn't work. That's earth, y'all. We've taken over. And we're miserable.

And this system doesn't work. And Jesus says the time is fulfilled. The kingdom is coming. The king is returning. God's about to fix this. And throughout Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

The kingdom of heaven and the kingdom of God are used interchangeably. So when he says the kingdom of God is at hand. That's also the kingdom of heaven. Meaning when God's in charge. It's heaven. When God's in charge.

Everything works the way it's supposed to. And that's actually what the church is supposed to look like. A little picture of heaven. The way we interact with each other. The way we relate to one another. The way we treat money and time and relationships and forgiveness and hurt feelings.

We're supposed to look like a little picture of heaven. So Jesus says kingdom's coming. Now he's going to tell us how to respond. So a king is on the march. And he's going to tell us here's your response. And here's how this works.

If you are not a Christian. This is how you respond immediately to the kingdom. This is your first immediate response to the kingdom of heaven. To the kingdom of God. And if you are a Christian. This is how you live continually.

It is your continual response to Jesus. So this is how we respond immediately and continually. So everybody needs to be paying attention because you're on one of those tracks. Alright so here's what he says. The time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe the gospel.

That is the response. Repent and believe the gospel. Repent and believe the gospel. That's how you respond immediately and that's how you live continually. Okay now we've got to do a little bit of work here. Because we don't use that word a whole lot.

What we do here if you've been hanging out for a while. We use the word repent a good bit. But we don't in life. Like you don't use that word. You're not like late for dinner and go sorry. I turned the wrong way on 378.

So I had to repent and come back this way. Like you don't say that. It's not a word we use. Like you only hear that like maybe in your life. Like a sweaty preacher yelled it at you. Or your grandma said it to you.

Or it feels like some sort of Old Testament word. But it's the first thing out of Jesus's mouth when he starts his ministry. So it's massively important. The simplest. If you want to really shrivel it down. The simplest term is.

It means to change your mind. To change your mind. But it's used with so much weight. And so continually throughout scripture. It has massive implication. What it means is.

Stop the way you're thinking. Stop the way you're acting. And turn away from your sin. Agree with God about your behavior. Agree with God about your sin. What Jesus.

The first thing out of his mouth is. God's coming. And you need to change. God's coming. His kingdom is coming. And you're not going to fit in.

When he gets here. This behavior you've got going. Isn't going to cut it. The creator of the universe is coming. And you need to change. That's Jesus's first thing he says.

Now. I think. We would have wanted him. To say something different. And even culturally. We kind of act like Jesus said something different.

Like repent was like. Old Testament stuff. Maybe his. Bug eating cousin. John said that. They were cousins.

I didn't take out that earlier. But maybe John said that. Said repent. But Jesus. You know what? Jesus showed up.

Like Jesus showed up. And he kind of. He floated. Or at least sashayed. I don't know if he floats. He's got feet.

So maybe he sashays. And his little. His little train was doing like this. And then he said. Guys. Guys.

Guys. Get in here. I just. I came all this way. Because I just. I just want to hug you.

Like that's kind of how we act. Like I'm just here to just say. It's okay. It's okay. Everything's going to be fine. You.

You're special. You are. So are you. Like that's. That's what he came to do. Right?

To just like. Just warm hugs. Like he's Olaf. Jesus is Olaf. Hi. I'm Jesus.

And I love warm hugs. Like that's. And here's the thing. That's not what he says. But can I tell you something?

What he says. Is so much. Better. And so much more freeing. Than what we think. We want him to have said.

Let me explain. One reason why. If Jesus showed up. And said. I'm God. I'm the son of God.

And I just want to tell y'all. You're doing great. And everything's fine. I immediately have some massive problems with that. Because what he just said was. The kingdom of God is coming.

And when it gets here. It's going to look like this. What we already have. Because if we're fine. Then we fit perfectly into the kingdom of heaven.

And what he's saying is. This is heaven. And what Jesus just would have said was. I'm perfectly okay. With sex trafficking. And I'm perfectly okay.

With slave trade. And I'm perfectly okay. With systematic oppression. And injustice. If Jesus showed up and said that. We have massive problems.

That's okay. That's the kingdom of God. That's what heaven looks like. You're not mad about that. Nobody's going to take up the sword. Nobody's going to fight for the weak.

Nobody's going to stand up for the oppressed. Nobody's going to take up the cause of the poor. And the voiceless. Nobody. You're showing up and saying that's fine. That's a problem.

If Jesus showed up and said. Everything's great. Let me tell you something. We would have to take up the sword. We would have to. But no.

He shows up and says. This isn't okay. And so we get to follow after him. In a gracious way. To oppose injustice and oppression. We get to follow after him.

In joining him. In him saying. This isn't alright. And let me tell you why. It's also beautiful that he says this. If you're honest.

If you actually sit alone with yourself long enough. You know that what our culture is telling you. Is garbage. What our culture says is this. You're special. You're wonderful.

There's nothing wrong with you. And you just need to believe and believe. In your heart. In yourself. Just believe in yourself. And even if you have evidence to the contrary.

That you're not special and wonderful. Just negate it. And just repeat to yourself over and over again. No I am special. I am wonderful. That's why we can sit down with somebody.

And they can be consistently lying. Like have a pattern of this. And be like. Hey you're lying. And they say. Well look.

I'm not a liar. Based on what? I believe in my heart. I believe and believe. Like there's just this. This we're told culturally.

To just trust yourself. Believe in yourself. And here's the thing. That only works if we don't think about it. But I actually need Jesus to show up.

And say exactly what he just said to me. There's so much freedom in him showing up. And saying hey. You're not okay. There's things about you that need to change. You can't just say that's my personality.

No. Well your personality makes you a jerk. You should stop. You should fix that. Like there's things about you that are not alright. And you can't just say.

Well this is who I am. This is how. No. He shows up immediately and says. You need to change. Now.

He doesn't stop there. He says repent. And believe the gospel. And for me. I would have thought he said repent. Which means stop sinning.

Surrender. To what God says is correct. What God says is true. What God says is right. You would think he would say that. He would say repent.

And do good. Repent from your bad ways. And do good ways. Repent from your wrong ways. And do the right ways. Right.

Like that's what I would think would be the opposite of that. But what's he say. He says repent. And believe the gospel. What he says is. You need to turn away from your sin.

But I've actually got somewhere for you to take it. You see Jesus went to the cross. To die for our sin. So that our sin can actually be forgiven. That we get to bring him our sin. And he takes care of it.

He calls us to believe. What he's actually inviting you into. Is joy. And rest. And hope. That's the invitation of repentance.

So maybe. This is your first time hanging out. And you're like. Thank you so much. For this uplifting. Heartwarming message.

Of I'm a terrible person. So excited. First of all. If it's your first time. That's the first thing Jesus would have said to you. So you're welcome.

Secondly. It's an invitation. Into absolutely 100% what you need. I'm going to give you a small example. Just between my wife and I. Try to help you see this picture.

Of what Jesus is actually saying. Is so freeing to you. You see. I've been married for seven years. My wife and I dated for four or five. Before that.

She's not here. So I don't have to get that right. Four or five. And. Here's what I need from my wife. In our relationship.

I need her at times. When things are bad. And they aren't going well. I need her to like. Get next to me. Put her arm around me.

Kiss my cheek. Say hey boo. I believe in you. Like this is going to be okay. Like we're going to be fine. Like I need her to look at me sometimes.

And just say hey. Like this is going to work out. We're going to be okay. Like I need her to. To put wind in my sails. I need that.

Like I need her to hope in me. And in us. I need her to have that. For our relationship. Like if she just followed me around. Being like hey.

Just going to let you know you're terrible. Hey. On my way home from work. I made a list. Of how much you've disappointed me. Like if she did that.

It would be massively difficult. To be her husband. Like it would be. It would rip the soul out of me. But. If she wasn't aware.

That I'm a sinner. And if she wasn't aware. That I fail. And fall short. And that I'm weak. And all of her expectations of me.

Were just. I'm perfect. That would crush me. And the best relationship. We could have. Would be me.

Putting on a false front. A veneer. Wearing a mask. Hiding from her. Because I would never be able. To let her know.

That I failed. That I'm weak. That I'm. That I fall short. I got. I would have to pretend.

Around her. So if Jesus shows up. And just says. You're terrible. And stops there. Yeah.

That's crushing. And if Jesus shows up. And just says. Hey. I believe in you. You can be amazing.

What we would believe. Is that maybe other people can. But I can't. And I'm exempted. From that message. But what Jesus shows up.

And says. Is exactly. What we need to hear. Which is. You're broken. And weak.

And I'm going to make that okay. There's hope. And joy. And rest. For you. For all of you.

Who fall short. For all of you. Who can't get it together. For all of you. Who are not able. To always do.

What you're supposed to. For all of you. Who have. Taken your. Your past. And just.

Jacked it up. There's hope for you. You need to repent. You need to surrender. You need to turn from that. But you need to come to me.

Where there's joy. And hope to be found. That's why Acts 3. 19. Says it this way. He says.

Repent. Therefore. Turn back. That your sins. May be blotted. Out.

You see. We turn away from our sin. Because we actually have a place. To take them. To Jesus. We trust.

That he's able to. Pay for them. To cover them. For us. This is. The intro.

And. The lifelong. Process. Of being a Christian. It is a life. Of continually.

Repenting. Of sin. And believing. The truth. Of the gospel. That's.

Life. As a Christian. That we. Don't have to be perfect. That Jesus. Makes us perfect.

And that we can. Continually. Repent of sin. And trust him. And here's the issue. Here's the.

Here's the thing. The opposite. Of. Sin. Is not. Good behavior.

But it's. Belief. It's. Faith. The reason we sin. In the first place.

Is that we're not. Believing the gospel. We're not believing. That Jesus is who he says he is. And that he's accomplished. What he said he's accomplished.

And that joy. And hope. And life. Are ultimately found in him. The reason we're chasing. After these other things.

Is because we're not believing that. And that's why he says. Repent of your sin. And believe what's true. Because if you believe it. It automatically shows up.

You ever had. You ever told somebody. Hey. This is really good. And it looks funny. Like y'all are eating something.

And you're like. You should try this. And their immediate response is. You eat it. Maybe your friends trust you. I don't know.

If I tell somebody to eat something. They're like. You eat it. Like that's the response. Because what they're saying is. If you believe that it's good.

You'll have no problem with eating it right now. But if you don't believe that. I'm at least going to make you suffer with me. You'll have to fake through. And pretend like it's good. So sometimes it's worth it.

Like I'll be like. Like I was lying or whatever. And I'll eat it. And just like. You know. You have to try to fake it.

So that they'll eat some. And then you can be like. Ah. Now we're both idiots. But belief actually shows up.

Like it shows up in how we act. It shows up in what we do. So I can sit down with you. And ask you. What do you believe? And you can tell me everything.

In your little heart. That you believe that it's true. And a better way for me to find out. Would be to audit your time. And your bank account. Because if you actually believe.

That it shows up in how you spend your time. And how you spend your money. You see. The opposite of sin. Is belief. Because belief is what.

Changes our hearts. And changes how we act. And changes what we do. And ultimately invites us into joy. So it's an invitation.

Into joy. The Christian life is a life of repentance. Continually repenting. And continually believing the gospel. That when we sin. All we're saying is.

I don't really believe the gospel here. We're waving a flag. And saying. I don't believe that the gospel is true for me. So when you say.

This is my money. And nobody can have any. And I'm not supposed to be generous. What you're saying is. I don't believe the gospel is true. With my money.

When you're saying that. The best thing I can find in life. Is just to have sex. And to chase women. Or to get guys to like me. What you're saying is.

I don't really believe the gospel is true. That Jesus gives me my identity. And my hope. And my salvation. Like. Anytime we're sinning.

We have a belief issue. First and foremost. Because we don't realize. That the gospel has freed us up. From that. So it's not just to.

Modify our behavior. But to actually change what we believe. So that we can be set free. Okay. So let me tell you.

A couple of ways. That we kind of. Mess this up. There are some of you. In this room right now. You've been a Christian a while.

And you're like. I get the repentance thing. I realize that I'm supposed to see my sin and change. But the point of repentance. Is to lead us. Into the joy.

Of Jesus's salvation. So some of you. Are anxious. You're worn out. Because your whole life. Is trying to.

Fix your behavior. To modify yourself. To find all your sins. And get rid of them. But you've never gotten to the point.

That the point of repenting of sin. Is to believe. That the gospel is true. That you're free. That you're okay. You have three accountability partners.

And y'all get together. And talk about. How are you terrible. Here's how I'm terrible. And you never say. How is Jesus good.

How does the gospel set us free. How do we have. Freedom and hope. And joy in Jesus. Because the point of repenting. Is to believe.

If we're genuinely repenting. We'll grow in belief. And if we're genuinely believing. We'll be repenting. Some of you. May have bought into the.

Southern lie. That you can be a Christian. And that have no effect on your life. That you can say a prayer. I've. Been in church gatherings.

Before like this. Preacher talks about. Ten ways to be a better dad. Three ways you can find. Joy in marriage. And then at the end.

He says. If you want to be a Christian. Repeat after me. Hadn't explained the cross. Hadn't explained the cross. It just says.

Repeat these words. And I. Or. Every head out. Every head bowed. Every eyes closed.

No one looking around. If you want to be a Christian. Just look at me. Okay. Good. I see that.

I see that hand. I see those eyes. Whatever. Like. Just. Y'all been in this?

No? And then he'll say. Say this prayer. Raise your hand. If you just prayed that prayer. You're all Christians.

That's like a magic spell. That's not Christianity. Christianity is that you believe. And you repent. And that's a lifelong process. Of believing and repenting.

Now. If you actually believed. Jesus makes you his. And he'll keep you his. But one of the ways he keeps you his.

Is by continually leading you to repent. Continually changing your heart. Some of you would say you are a Christian. And you have not owned your sin. Acknowledged your sin. It's been years.

If ever. The last time you sat down with someone. And said. Here's how I was wrong. Here's how I sinned against you. Here's how I failed.

And here's how Jesus is good. You think that you can be a Christian. Without repenting. And that person does not exist in the Bible. One of the reasons why the Bible advocates. That at times you should.

Remove people from being a part of the church. Or treat them like they aren't Christians. Is because you address sin in them. And they don't listen. So you address sin in them again.

And they don't listen. So you get more people. And you address sin in them. And then at some point it says. Just know they're not a Christian. Because Christians repent.

Christians see their sin. Agree with God about their sin. Change their heart about sin. And follow Jesus. That is what Christians do. For a lifetime.

You will never outgrow your need for the gospel. But see repentance is a call to joy. And to freedom. In Jesus. It's exactly what we need to hear. You're not okay.

But I can make you okay. You're not fine on your own. And there's some things that aren't going to make it into the kingdom. But I will bring you into the kingdom. Because I'll pay for your sin. So let's say you became a Christian.

You became a Christian when you were in your. You were a teenager. Maybe you became a Christian when you were a teenager. Genuinely placed faith in Jesus. And then throughout your teen years. You really just kind of buy into the lie.

That the best way to have fun and enjoy life is through sex. Because our culture tells you that. Sex is where the good life is. Like if you've ever noticed the magazine racks. When you're in line at Target. What's it say?

What are like all the. Field and stream. All of them. Talk about. Here's how to have better sex. You'll notice.

None of them are saying. You should be having more sex. They've already got us to buy into that. They're just saying. Your sex should be better. Because more apparently didn't fix it.

So you buy into that lie when you're a teenager. That this is how life. This is where joy comes from. This is where hope comes from. And then because you're a Christian. Jesus leads you to repentance.

He goes to work on your heart. And he shows you that life and joy aren't found there. That ultimately they will not satisfy. And that your hope gets to be placed in him. And so you repent. You confess to the people around you.

Confess to your community group. And you turn away from it. Then in your 20s. You just start living your life. You're going for it. And you start realizing.

That you've now bought into the idea. That money and success. That things. That the goal. You hook, line and sink are the American dream. The goal of life is to have stuff.

And if I can fill my house with stuff. And if I can go on vacations. And if I can be comfortable. And if I can have a title. And if I can have. Like I'll have hope and joy in life.

But because you're a Christian. Jesus goes to work in your heart. And he shows you that that's bankrupt. That it's empty. And so you repent. And it's a 10 year long battle.

In your soul. To believe that the gospel is true. And that money won't satisfy you. And it won't fill you up. And it won't give you purpose and meaning. In your 30's.

You start trying to question. Like what. Where does my. Where does my worth come from. Where does my purpose come from. And maybe you answer it with.

It's by having wonderful kids. If I can just have a healthy little family. Then I'll know I'm okay. Maybe it's. It's if I can have a good career. That means something.

If I can wake up every day. And go do exactly what I want to do. Like that's. That's where I get hope from. Maybe you answer it that way. Maybe you answer it with kids.

Or perfect family. Or good Job. But you don't have either. You're not married. You don't have kids. You don't have a good job.

And so you've answered the question. This is what will fill me up. But you don't have it. So you're depressed. You're broken. But Jesus steps in and says.

You're broken. But I've got good news. I've got the gospel for you. Which is. These things won't fill you up. Won't fix you.

Won't give you worth. But I can. And so maybe in your 30's. The biggest thing that he leads you to repent of. Is where your hope and your joy and your worth are found. Maybe you spend your 30's walking through that with him.

Over and over and over and over again. This isn't going to make you okay. This isn't going to fix you. And he reminds you over and over again. That the gospel is true. That Jesus died for you.

To welcome you. To make you his. And to give you worth. In your 40's. Maybe you begin to. Start realizing that you.

You've. Kind of spent your life. On yourself. And you haven't cared at all. That your neighbors don't know Jesus. You haven't cared at all.

That nobody around you. Knows him. And you start realizing. You know. I haven't. I haven't shared the gospel.

I haven't spent any of my life. Towards something that. Eternally matters. And so you begin to. To repent. Jesus begins to work in your heart.

Maybe in your 50's. You start. Really struggling. With the fact. That you still have doubts. And fears.

And questions. And I should be further along. Than I am now. And Jesus shows up. And says. You're never going to outgrow.

The need for the gospel. You're going to need to. Continually repent. And continue to believe. And continually to follow after me. Maybe in your 60's.

All the things. That you've put your hope in. That make you. You. Are falling apart. Your body's falling apart.

Your kids are out of the house. You used to be the one person. That everybody called on for help. And now people are asking you. If you need help. You're going to have to retire.

From your job. Or you can't do it the way you used to. And you start in your 60's. Realizing. I don't have an identity anymore. And Jesus.

Breaks you over your sin. And says. You need to believe the gospel. That your identity. Always came from me. Maybe in your 70's.

You start questioning. What's your legacy. And how's my name going to continue. And he starts reminding you. That his legacy. And his name.

Matter most. And my hope. And prayer for us. As a church. Is that each of us. Would spend our life.

Year after year. Day after day. And decade after decade. Repenting. And being renewed. And called into.

The hope that is only found. In the gospel. Some of you are in here. And you say. I'm a Christian. But I just feel stagnant.

I feel empty. And my question to you would be. When was the last time you repented? When was the last time you sat down. With a blank sheet of paper. And said.

Jesus. Show me my sin. Because I can promise you. He loves to answer that one. Because when he shows you your sin. He calls you to himself.

Every single time. The goal of you seeing your sin. Is so that you would get more of him. When Jesus says. You need to repent. And believe the gospel.

You need to turn away from your sin. And run to me. That's the call. Christians. Repent. And if you say you're a Christian.

And that's not a normal pattern of life for you. The Bible says. To test yourself. To see whether or not you're in the faith. Which means. Hold your life up to scripture.

And see. Is this showing up? It says. To work out your salvation. With fear and trembling. And here's how.

Repentance ought to look. You ought to see your sin. And be broken over it. Your heart ought to break. Over the fact. That your sin.

Caused Jesus to die. I want to. Let's read. Second Corinthians seven. Real quick with each other. Paul says this.

As it is. I rejoice. Not because you were grieved. But because you were grieved into repenting. For you felt a godly grief. So that you suffered no loss through us.

For godly grief. So your heart is broken. It's grief. You're grieved over your sin. You're mourning it. Godly grief produces a repentance.

That leads to salvation. Without regret. Without regret. That's like a Nike t-shirt. No regrets. Like that's what Christians get to have.

Is a repentance. That leads them to salvation. Where you're not condemned. You're not overwhelmed by your sin. You're free. Your shame and your guilt.

Are gone. Your brokenness is gone. Because Jesus was broken for you. That you are grieved over your sin. But then you're welcomed into joy.

It says worldly grief produces death. Some of you have worldly grief over your sin. It's killing you. Because you're not believing the gospel. It's crushing you. Because you're not turning it into joy.

Which is that Jesus died for it to set you free. Some of you are just condemning yourself. Just telling yourself you're terrible. You get the idea that you're broken. But you don't.

You realize that you don't deserve anything from God. You've fallen face first into the dirt. And you've said God I'm broken. But you need to realize that Jesus bends down. Picks you up out of the dirt. And says I love you.

See on the cross our sin is shown to be terrible. And God's love is shown to be great. Jesus died because our sin is heinous before him. And he died because he loves us so much. That he was willing to save us from it. You need to see your sin.

You need to agree with God about it. You need to be broken over your sin. Your heart should be wrenched inside of your chest. That you know that you don't deserve anything from him. And then you need to be welcomed into enjoying Jesus. As you confess openly to the people around you.

I'm a sinner. Because anytime as a Christian we confess. We're confessing our sin. And that Jesus is our savior. We confess two things. We make the confession of our sin.

And that I wouldn't be able to confess this if it weren't for him. Band's going to come back up here, Matt. Bianca are going to come. We're going to spend a little time this morning. They're going to sing a song here in a minute. We're not going to sing with them.

We're just going to take a minute to sit and ask God the question. Where do I need to repent? Where do you want to work in me? What do you want to cut out of me? What do you want to set me free from? What do you want to draw me closer to you in?

Because his goal is to give you more of himself. Set you free from sin. And welcome you to himself. If you would say you're a Christian. I have a couple questions for you. Do you see your sin?

Do you repent? When you're faced with that your life doesn't line up with scripture. What is your response? Do you run to God? Do you own it? When you're repenting, are you blame shifting?

Well, I wouldn't have done that if you hadn't have done this. And really, it's not sin. It's like I've got some weaknesses. You know, nobody's perfect. Do you actually own the fact that this won't fly in God's kingdom? But Jesus is good enough to work on it in me.

If you're a Christian, do you repent? Do you only repent when someone notices? Do you only repent when you get caught? Or do you own up to the stuff that nobody would know about? The stuff that I'm the only one who knows. And if I don't tell you, no one knows.

But I've got to tell you because Jesus sets me free from this. Some of you right now are saying, I can't do that. That's because you don't believe the gospel. Your value doesn't come from what you've done. Your value doesn't come from who people think you are. Your value comes from what Jesus has accomplished on your behalf and who he's made you.

As a Christian, I get to lay it all on the line and say, these are all the things that would have destroyed me, that would have owned me, that would have sent me straight to hell. But Jesus died for me so that I don't have to. I don't have to be crushed by it or owned by it. If you're a Christian and you say, you know, I repent, I see my sin. May I ask you this? Does your repentance lead you to joy?

Do you end up in belief? Do you end up in celebrating that God is gracious towards you? Ephesians says that he saved us for the praise of his glorious grace. You do not deserve salvation. You do not deserve grace. And in the moments when you see your sin the most, you get to praise his grace.

That he lavished love on you because he's good. And so when you feel like, I don't deserve this, I'm not worthy. Yeah, but Jesus is and he was worthy on your behalf and you are loved and cherished. Does your repentance lead you to joy? Does your repentance lead you to joy? So here's what we're going to do.

We don't repent unless the Holy Spirit helps us. We won't actually see our sin unless the Holy Spirit helps us. And even when we do see our sin, we won't care unless the Holy Spirit helps us. So for a minute, I just want us to pray that the Holy Spirit would go to work on our souls, that he would help us. He'd help us change, that he'd help us see our sin, that he'd help us hate it, and that he would impress upon us the love that he has for us. And then just right where you are, I want you to take a minute to ask God, where do I need to repent?

Where do I need to change? What in me do you want to cut out? Some people are going to need to get up and go talk to somebody. You're going to need to go confess to someone. And that's fine. Because we get to look like a little picture of heaven and Jesus' church confesses our sin and that Jesus is our Savior and that we're free.

We're going to act today like the gospel is true. We're going to believe that we're free from sin, that Jesus rose from the grave, that we're not conquered by our guilt and our shame and our debt. God, we ask that your Holy Spirit would move and work in this place. God, that you would lead your church to repent, that we would hate our sin, and that we would see the cross so clearly, to know that we're free, that we're loved. God, I ask you to work in us this morning.

Sept 18

The Gospel and Baptism

The Gospel and Baptism

Chet Phillips

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Transcript

We doing well this morning? Grab your Bibles, go to Mark chapter 1. We are doing a couple of exciting things today. We're having baptisms and we are starting a new series that we'll be walking through for the next five weeks. So we'll be in Mark chapter 1 today and we're going to spend a little bit of time for the next five weeks in Mark.

Just walking through what it looks like to follow Jesus. So we're going to be studying Jesus and his disciples. The Gospel of Mark was written by a close associate of the Apostle Peter, the disciple Peter. And so we are just looking at what Mark wrote and what it looked like to follow Jesus for them. And then we're trying to spend some time asking, what does that look like for us? Because I know when Jesus walked up to Peter and he said, follow me, and then he started walking, Peter could see Jesus.

So following him was pretty simple. It was like, I'm just going to walk behind him and then go from there, see what happens. For us, it's a little bit different. We've got to figure out what does it actually look like for us in Columbia in 2016 to follow Jesus. What does that mean with my job? What does that mean with school?

What does that mean with how I relate? And how does this work? And so that's what we're going to spend the next several weeks walking through and talking about. But we're kind of jumping that off today in Mark chapter 1. And we're going to look at one verse. But if we miss this, we'll misunderstand everything.

And so we're just going to study the beginning of the Gospel of Mark for just a few minutes this morning. And then we're going to celebrate in baptism. So I'm going to pray and we'll jump in. God, we thank you for your grace. We thank you for your love towards us. And we pray that we would grow today in our ability to joyously celebrate your active work on earth.

And we pray that we would grow in our understanding of what it means to follow you. In Jesus' name, amen. Mark chapter 1, verse 1. The beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Okay, so Mark starts off and he's not playing around. Like he doesn't take his time.

It's the beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. So other Gospels, we have four of them. There's Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Matthew gives a genealogy of Jesus. He's kind of telling us his family history. Luke starts off telling us about how John the Baptist was born and how Jesus was born.

And that's where, if you've ever been to a Christmas play, we read the nativity stuff from Luke. That's the one they read in the Peanuts Christmas special. Charlie Brown's Christmas or whatever. That's Luke. Luke starts off with this big theological treatise on Jesus is the Word who becomes flesh and he lives among us. And it gets really kind of confusing.

He inserts John the Baptist in the middle of it for the heck of it. Like he just kind of takes his time. Mark is just, this is the beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. It's like you went on a first date with Mark. You sat down at the table. The waitress comes up to see what you want to eat or what you want to order to drink.

And he's like, hold on a second. Do you want to get married? And it's like, what? And he's like, well, that's the point of dating, isn't it? Let's do this thing.

Like he's like straight up at the very beginning is like, this is the point of my book. Jesus is the Son of God. Like this is the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. And so what we're going to do is take just a second to understand that sentence. What the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God means. Because Gospel means something.

Christ means something. And him saying he's the Son of God means something. So I just want to, when he says Jesus Christ, Christ is not his last name. Christ is a title. It means Jesus, the promised Messiah. Jesus, the promised one of God.

Like he's the one that the Old Testament has been telling us. He's the one that the prophets have been telling us. He's the one we've been waiting for this whole time. Jesus is the promised one. And then he says he's the Son of God. So he starts off by saying, you know Jesus, you know that guy that everybody's heard about?

I want you to know that he's the Son of God. I want you to know that God came down. I want you to know that God joined us. That's how he starts off this Gospel. Okay. I don't know about y'all.

When I hear that, God came to earth. My immediate thought is, uh-oh. Like that doesn't sound great. Like I look around earth. I live here. I'm from here.

I look around earth and I think, we're not doing so hot. Like there's a lot that we have done poorly. And if God made earth, when he comes down, it seems like he's not coming down to give out high fives or participation awards. Or like just to congratulate us. Like it doesn't seem like he's going to show up and be like, hey guys, I just couldn't stay in heaven. I had to come talk to y'all.

Genocide? Brilliant. Racism. You guys are crushing it. Like he's not, like I'm immediately hesitant when I hear that God came down. And I know for a lot of us, our response is, I would like for God to come down.

I'm going to give him a piece of my mind. I'd like to, I want to talk to him about some of this stuff. Like I'm upset with him. But let me tell you a little story and how I kind of don't think that's true. When I was little, we used to go stay at my grandparents' house. And I had like 13 cousins or 12 cousins.

I guess I was one of them. So there's like 13 of us. And the way my grandmother's house was, she had a big house. Everybody would stay there. All the families would stay there. And then there was a basement.

And the basement was just covered in little like mats and pallets and sleeping bags and stuff for all the kids to stay. And the kids were aged from like 4 to 15 or something. And so then they would come tell us, y'all need to go to bed. And then they would close the basement door. And they would leave us alone. And we didn't go to bed.

But we, like there was always shenanigans and nonsense. Like there was, we were making noises. We were messing with stuff. We were doing things they had explicitly told us not to do. We were doing things that they hadn't explicitly told us not to do. But we were pretty sure they would have had they thought of it.

Like we were down there. I mean it was chaos. And then here's what would happen. At some point, we don't know quite when they were going to sleep. You know, we were younger, we had to go to bed early. But at some point, the door to the basement would open.

And at my grandmother's house, there was, the basement door was hidden. And then there was like this half partial wall with some posts holding it up. And there were steps coming down. And so you always got to see the feet of whoever was coming down the stairs before you got to see the face. And so when the door opened, it was everybody immediately pretending like you sleep. Like we all, like you just tried to, you just dove somewhere.

Sometimes like three of y'all in the same sleeping bag. Like it's super weird looking, but like everybody just got to act like they were asleep. And then you would try to peek as best you could to see whose feet it was. And what, because like if I saw my uncle's feet, he can yell at me. He ain't hitting me though. Like I'm not getting beat by my uncle.

His kids are in trouble. Like he's going to beat them in front of us. We'll all be scared. But like the best time, but if I saw my dad's feet, it's like that's a one and third chance I'm getting beaten. And depending on how, you know, how much energy he had, it might just be all three of us just line us up or whatever. If you saw my granddad's feet, that's equal opportunity beatings.

Like he can hit whoever he wants. He made everybody. And so there was this moment when the door opened that immediately you were like, like, oh, them coming down here, this isn't good. They're not coming down here to tell us well done. And that's the same when I hear that God came to earth. My immediate thought is not, well, good.

My immediate thought is, oh, I've got sin. I've got brokenness. We're not doing well. And if he takes us to task, if he makes us give an account, this is a problem. But there's a word that Mark sticks at the very beginning of this that fixes that.

He says the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the son of God. And that word gospel, maybe some of y'all are familiar with it. Maybe you've, you grew up around church and you just know, well, gospel, you know, that's talking about Jesus. Maybe some of you didn't. And you're thinking gospel in that like a type of music. Or like, don't people say like, this is the gospel truth.

Doesn't that mean just like the truth of your truth? Like, I don't really know. I'm not heard that word a lot. When Mark used that word, it actually was a word that they used culturally at that time. There's actually an inscription that says the beginning of the gospel of Tiberius Caesar. Like, this was a term they used for a very specific type of message.

What it meant was good news. The word gospel is actually two Greek words stuck together that just mean news and joyful. It's like, this is joyful news. And here's how they used it. It meant life-changing, history-altering. You're never going to be the same again news.

I've got a piece of information for you that is going to radically change everything. It's that type of news. That's what gospel meant. So the way they would use this sum is they would have after battles. So when an invading force was coming, the king would, or the leader, the military leaders, the generals would take the army and they would lead away from the city.

And there would be a certain amount of people left in the city to defend the city. But they would go out to fight against the enemy. And if they won or if they lost, either way, they were sending people back to the city. Either way, whether they won or lost, they were sending people back to the city. But they had very different jobs.

If they lost, they sent military advisors. They sent some people hightailing as best they could, retreating, to come to the city and say, If you do this, you might live. If you put the military here, if you garrison this way, here's what's coming. And if we do this, if we hold on well, we might make it. There's a lot of things we got to do and not do in order to maybe make it. But if they won, they sent a good newser.

They sent a gospeler who was just going to come proclaim, we won. It was actually in history, in this story, we're not sure if it's true at this point, but there's a guy named Pheidippides. And after the Battle of Marathon, he ran 26.2 miles to the city to tell them, Joy to you, these are his last words, joy to you, we've won. And then as the story goes, Pheidippides dies. And for some reason, we heard this story. Some guy heard this story and was like, Huh, he ran 26.2 miles and died.

Do y'all want to run 26.2 miles and call that a marathon? After the Battle of Marathon? And it's like, why? To see if we die? No. What happens if we don't die?

You can put a sticker on your Xterra. Like, I don't know what the point is, but I believe in safety first, so I'll never run a marathon. But the point, like, they sent good newsers to go proclaim, We've won. The battle is won. And all you have to do at this point is live in light of that. The battle's won.

Get out the finest meats and cheeses. Like, we're just going to celebrate. The victory's been won. We're okay. You don't have to do anything other than just know this news is to be celebrated. And that's what Mark says.

He says, the story of the promised one, Jesus, the Son of God coming to earth, is earth-shattering, history-changing news. And that is the fundamental difference between Christianity and every other religion and every other philosophy and every other thought process, is that we have news and everybody else has advice. Every other religion, every other philosophy is sending out, here's what you have to do and you might survive. Here's what you have to do and God will love you. Here's what you have to do to have the good life now. Here's what you have to do to enjoy earth to the fullest.

Here's what you have to do in order to reach nirvana. And Christianity is saying, here's what's already been done. Here's the good news of Jesus. You were sinful. You deserved wrath. You deserved punishment.

You were guilty. And Jesus Christ, the Son of God, came and lived on earth perfectly on your behalf and died gruesomely on a cross. And he was buried. And three days later, he rose again from the grave. He conquered death. He conquered sin.

He conquered all the enemies that had surrounded you. I have joy to you. We've won. The victory has been won. Jesus has won. He is no longer in the grave.

And if you place your faith in Jesus, you can be forgiven. If you place your faith in Jesus, you can be free. That's the gospel. The church is not a gathering of perfect, cleaned up people. The church is a gathering of the first people in the room to raise their hand and say, I'm so messed up. If somebody else doesn't do something, I'm in trouble.

We celebrate baptism today. There's going to be people over and over again getting to tell you, I'm so messed up. If Jesus didn't do something, I'm in trouble. Here's how Jesus rescued me. Here's how he paid for my sin. The point of this is not, I'm going to go do my good church thing.

I'm going to get baptized because you're supposed to. And then God will love me. That's not the gospel. The gospel is that Jesus Christ died for our sins so that we could be free and that everything we've ever done to fall short has been wiped away because Jesus paid for it. And that's what we celebrate today. And that's what we'll be talking about for the next four weeks is how that news affects every aspect of our lives.

How it changes everything for us. So in just a minute, we're going to show some videos. People are going to get in here and be baptized to celebrate that Jesus Christ saves sinners and that we get to live our lives in light of some good news. Not trying to work really hard, to be really moral, to clean ourselves up, to make ourselves special. That Jesus was awesome on our behalf and we get to rest in the freedom that he's offered to us. Let's pray.

God, we thank you today that we get to gather to celebrate good news. God, that the entrance to being baptized is not, let me behave well, let me work hard, let me promise to do better. But the entrance is that you died, you were buried, you rose again, and you paid for our sin. And so as Christians, we get to be buried with you in baptism. We get to rise again out of the water, free from our sin because you paid for it. God, we thank you for the good news.

We love you. We praise you. In Jesus' name, amen.