Episode Transcript
Speaker 1 00:00:04 Good morning. If you have a Bible open up to John Chapter 12. Have you, have you ever crossed your own personal red line? Some of you know exactly what a red line is, some of you don't. Let me, let me define it. Red line is, uh, it's an idiom for your personal boundary beyond which you have decided not to pass. There's a another definition that I, I, I appreciated. This is the fastest, farthest, or highest point or degree considered safe. So what lies beyond a red line? Unacceptable. Danger, risk, discomfort, loss, fear, death. You might have also heard it articulated like this. That is my line in the sand. I won't cross it. Nope. That is too far. I won't do it. That's your red line. So let's get a little bit personal. When was the first time your friends asked you to cross a red line?
Speaker 1 00:01:24 Has your boss ever asked you to cross a red line when you chose the person you are currently dating? Did you have to cross a red line when you went to that party? Did you cross a red line? Right now, there are so many people, stories are going through your brain. Many of them are stories of regret. For some of you, it's stories of, oh, I knew my red line. I stood strong and I didn't walk past it. Not, not all red lines are morally bad. So like, there are some things I won't do because I'm scared anybody have them. Some of you're like, yeah, maybe. Let me, let me tell you, lemme tell you one. And Zion National Park, you guys know by now, it's like my favorite park in the US there is a hike called Angels Landing. Look at this. This is ridiculous. So dumb <laugh> really is we, what you probably don't know is like how far of a drop that is vertically. Oh, guys, stop it. Don't do it, lady. Go back.
Speaker 1 00:02:44 I don't like this. I feel anxious a lot right now. Like whatever. I like, I like this one. Angels Landing, the scariest hike in the usa. All right, um, this, this is an article written by a woman and I, I, I wanna read this to you. It's breathtaking but deadly. How does Safely Hike? Angels Landing? And let me just read to you what she wrote is Angels Landing Safe. She asks, if you care at all about your travel companions, as do I, because I birthed most of them. This is the critical question to ask before making plans to visit Zion National Park. Once you know the dangers of Angels Landing, you might decide this iconic trail is best hiked by other people, preferably people with Photoshop, uh, who will put you into the pictures. After all, we're not just talking twisted ankles and broken bones.
Speaker 1 00:03:40 People have died on Angels Landing in 2000. Since 2017. Three people have tragically fallen to their deaths while hiking. Angels Landing most recently in April, 2019. This brings the total number of deaths to nine. According to the Park website. My wife is begging me to hike Angels Landing. And I'm like, no, no. In Jesus' name line on the line, on Red Line. It's not, you're not doing it. Okay, moment of vulnerability for you. How many of you would hike Angels Landing? Raise your hand loud and don't be shame. You are terrible, terrible people. <laugh>, I don't even have a, ugh. Same in the first service, like over half. And I'm like, what is wrong with all of you?
Speaker 1 00:04:32 Has somebody ever has somebody that you've trusted, ever asked you to do something for the most part, safe? You know you're gonna live not Angels Landing. You know you're gonna live and you didn't want to do it. You're like, listen, that's a little bit too far. I wanna tell you the tale of two children. Mine, uh, number one is my son. It seems there is no fear mechanism in him whatsoever in the womb. Something broke, right? So if I go to him and I say, Hey bro, do you wanna drop off a 10 foot cliff into the water? He would say, yep, 20 feet. Yep. 30 feet. Yep. 40 feet. Yep. When are we going? No fear. Like, you know, that mechanism that you have before you jump, you go, right? Not him, he just is like, can I go? Can I go? Can I go?
Speaker 1 00:05:17 Ah, right. We have this great video of him and he is jumping off. It's probably like a 14 foot, um, uh, bridge into water. And he's got a life vest on. I think he's like four years old. And he is like, can I go, can I go? And he just, who belly flops right into the water. You know, again, my oldest daughter, she has a much more conservative, uh, red line when it comes to adventure. Um, sweetheart, would you like to jump off a 10 foot cliff into the water? No. Okay. Would you try just once? Here's an insight into how she might respond. What is is the temperature of the water? How deep is it? What is the probability that I'll touch? The bottom? Is the bottom rock, sand, or gunk? What are the chances of death? Are there fish in the water, none or only a few?
Speaker 1 00:06:06 How big are they? What are the statistical chances? I will come in contact with Juan. She would go on and then she would stand there for 45 minutes. Huh? No, huh? No. Huh, nope. And then maybe she jumps. That wasn't so bad. And I'm like, for the love of God, trust me. Next time I tell you that it's gonna be fine. This week we're starting a four week series, and this series is gonna take us through John 1213 in a part of 14. And, uh, if you can't guess the title, it's called Red Line. And, uh, in each of these chapters, there is a group of people and there's something significant that stands between them and Jesus. And in order to follow Jesus, they're gonna, they're gonna have to cross a threshold. They're gonna, they're gonna have to cross a line that previously they are fear fearful of crossing.
Speaker 1 00:07:03 And the the chapters are, are gonna press a question on all of us. So what stands between you and following Jesus? Jesus, I will follow you until you ask me to blank. That's my red, that's my red line. That's my line in the sand. I will follow you anywhere except if you, if you ask this thing of me, I'm not not going to do this Jesus that is asking too much. That's not fair. So there's gonna be, um, a temptation probably in most of us to have a self dialogue in the middle of this message that says, I really don't have a red line. I follow Jesus anywhere. And that's, that's great. And maybe that's true. One of the things I wanna ask you to do in, in the middle of this message is to maybe just ask the Holy Spirit. Is there something, anything that I I need to surrender to you that to be honest, I'll follow you anywhere, but I I I don't think I wanna follow you here.
Speaker 1 00:08:14 I I would give up anything for you, but I I really don't think I can give this thing up. And here's what I know about the Holy Spirit. If you ask him to reveal your heart, he's pretty good at doing it. If you'll listen now, there's another option you have, which is to quench the Holy Spirit and to pray. This is a really short sermon. So I've decided to make this sermon unusually long so that your ability to quench a Holy Spirit is pretty challenging. All right, John chapter 12, verse one. I want you to see the timeframe of John 12. It says, six days before the Passover. This isn't just any Passover, this is Jesus's last Passover. By the end of this week, he will be killed and then ultimately be raised from the dead to the Book of John. It's 21 chapters long.
Speaker 1 00:09:05 Right now we're in chapter 12, chapter 12, all the way through 21. What they do is they chronicle the last week of the life of Christ. So we are gonna be in the last week of Christ's life, all the way up until Easter, where this culminates in the resurrection, uh, verse one, six days before the Passover, Jesus, therefore, because it's time for the Passover, he came to Bethany. Bethany is about a 40 minute walk from Jerusalem where all the Passover festivities are gonna be taking place. He went to Bethany where Lazarus was. Do you guys remember what happened with Lazarus? It's right there on the screen whom Jesus had raised from the dead in verse two. So they gave a dinner for him there. Martha served. What do we know about Martha when she comes up? She's always serving, right? So this is true to form.
Speaker 1 00:09:59 This is Martha. She's serving. Lazarus was one of those reclining at the table. Now this dinner is a big dinner and it's a big deal. And so this dinner did not take place at Mary, Martha and Lazarus's house, theirs, siblings, siblings. This took place at a house of a guy named Simon the leper. And it seems to be that the Simon, the leper is no longer a leper, but that's sort of his new name. Now, he used to be a leper. Jesus heals him. And now what you find is this guy who previously would've been cast to the outskirts of society and culture. He now has a home large enough to host a whole bunch of people. Simon the lepers seems to ex have experienced quite a bit of redemption. We see that Martha is there coordinating the food. We'll see in a minute, Mary not marry the mother of Jesus, marry the sister of Martha.
Speaker 1 00:10:49 She's also going to be there. We see Lazarus, we see all 12 of the disciples are here. We don't know how many people were in Simon Lepers family, nor how many other people came to this dinner. But this seems to be, I would guess minimally 18 to 30 people at this dinner. And then something really unexpected happens. Um, it was so important that three out of the four gospel writers of all the things that could, that happened in the ministry of Jesus, three out of four plucked this experience out. And they made sure that for millennia, we had this documented in the very word of God. Here's what happens. Verse three, Mary therefore took a pound of expensive ointment made from pure and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.
Speaker 1 00:11:58 Guys, there is so much happening. N number one, this isn't just Mary's oil, it is probably the family's oil. It has probably been passed down from generation to generation. Mark tells us that this ointment or na, is worth 300 D, which is about the average salary for an average Israelite over an entire year. If you were to take this amount of money, it would be roughly 50 to $70,000 in American money. Right? Now, this is extremely valuable that there's a whole bunch of cultural things going on that really there's no way for us to know about because we're 2000 years removed, living in America. But this oil, this ointment, this nard, it wasn't just anything. It actually was used for a very specific purpose. Uh, it was used to cover the stench of a dead person before they were put into a tomb. And so, you know, those like smells that you have, like if I say, what is Christmas smell like?
Speaker 1 00:13:07 You'll have a smell. What is your grandmother's house smell like? You have a smell. What is, uh, Thanksgiving smell like? You, you have these smells that bring you to a place, and the smell of nard is the smell of a funeral. And so this is a really potent specific smell that anybody around them is gonna be able to identify. There's more, uh, women never let their hair down, or if they did, it was under very unusual circumstances. What's also interesting is that the smell is gonna be stuck to Mary's hair for a long time. Have you ever like been around like a woman with a lot of hair and she just washed it and she walks by and like 15 feet diameter, you can smell the person or they put like a, like a 10,000 squirts of perfume on them, and they walk into a room and the whole room goes, whoa. Like, welcome to Mary. For the entire week of Passover, the woman is gonna smell like a funeral. Now, Bethany is a small city, and in Bethany, if somebody dies, you know about it. And throughout the entire week, everywhere Mary goes, people are gonna be saying this Mary who died. And and I wonder how she responded. They haven't died yet. <laugh>. Like it's a weird set of conversations, isn't it?
Speaker 1 00:14:33 In this singular act, Mary is declaring her belief in the gospel. There is so much behind implied in almost explicitly in this act. Here's just a couple. Jesus, I believe that you are the Messiah. You are worth my most valuable possession. Jesus, I believe you will die just as you said. And I believe that you will die on Passover as the sacrifice, substitute sacrifice for my sin. She didn't have to say the words. Jesus already told them all what he was gonna do multiple times. Jesus, I believe you when you say like my brother Lazarus, you will raise from the dead. Jesus, I trust you with what is most valuable to me, my reputation, more importantly my soul. There's, there's so much being said in this moment, and then everybody's least favorite disciple chimes in Judas. But verse four, Judas is scar, one of his disciples.
Speaker 1 00:15:58 He who is about to betray him. I love that John throws in these little one-liners. Fyi, he's a terrible person. I want you to remember forever in all of history. Got it. Verse five, Judas says, why was this ointment not sold for 300 Dara and given to the poor? Right? Jesus, on, on, on the surface, Judas reaction is reasonable, particularly given all of these people in light of the passion of Jesus to take care of and to love the poor. Like this is a really reasonable response. And it wasn't just Judas who responded like this. Listen to Matthew chapter 28. Here's what it says. When the disciples saw it, they were indignant, furious, saying, why the waste for this could have been sold for a large sum and given to the poor. Mark's version, chapter 14, verse five says this about the disciples, they scolded her.
Speaker 1 00:17:12 So some people's rebukes land harder than others. And what you can't forget in this moment is that, um, the disciples, particularly when Jesus is away, they carry with him the authority of Jesus. This is like all of your pastors sitting around you rebuking and scolding you for something that you're like, I thought giving Jesus the best thing I had the week of his death felt right. Even worse. This is like the pastor in charge of all the money pulling you in front of the church and saying, look at how they spent this money. Can you believe in that all of the staff and elders and deacons scolding you? I've, I I tried for a while just to kind of put myself in Mary's shoes and empathize with her. Like what were some of the things that she was wrestling with? Um, did I get it wrong?
Speaker 1 00:18:10 Did I go too far? I mean, I know Jesus is hurt for the poor, but like, this is a big week. He said it was a big week. He's been prepping us for this. The guy's gonna die like I know this is for my family. I wonder if ma, if Martha and Lazarus are gonna be upset, am I honoring my parents legacy in this generational gift? Don't they get it? He's gonna die. Like this is, this is what we do. Back to John 12, six and Judas, he, Judas said this, not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief. Do you sense that John feels a little betrayed by Judas and having charge of the money bag he used to help himself to what was put into it? So what's motivating Judas greed? He's gonna get a whole sermon in a few weeks.
Speaker 1 00:18:59 We'll look at his red line. What's motivating the rest of the disciples ignorance. Next week they get their whole sermon. I don't know how long it took for Jesus to stop the scolding and the indignant rebukes and the shaming of this woman. Verse seven says this, and I, I'd love for you to try to guess her to his tone. Jesus said, leave her alone in my brain. There's a period after every word. Leave her alone so that she may keep it for the day of my burial for the poor. You always have with you, but you do not always have me in Mark's account. Here's what Jesus says about Mary's sacrifice. Mark 14, six, she has done a beautiful thing to me in Matthew, in Mark's account. Jesus also says this to all the disciples, truly I say to you, wherever the gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will also be told in memory of her, this woman's extravagant sacrifice for Christ would go down in history.
Speaker 1 00:20:24 Now here's, here's what I find hilarious. 11 of the 12, okay, would leave and they would go all over the world. And you know what story they told? One of the stories was about Mary, we, we get a glimpse into this because earlier I shared with you that this story is in three of the four gospels. Well guess which three? The three written by actual disciples and those guys being in that room hearing this entire experience said, all I know is there is no writing of the story and the life of Christ without this. Because Jesus told us, wherever we proclaimed the gospel, this woman's story is gonna be told. The one who didn't add it in was Luke, who actually wasn't a disciple, uh, one of the 12. And so he actually had to go interview people to hear about it. And he picked and chose what he wanted.
Speaker 1 00:21:13 But the guys in that room, they all knew we don't write a single gospel without Mary's story being in here. Because Jesus said, when we proclaimed the gospel, this woman, a story is gonna be told. All right, let's get to the bottom of this. What did Mary get that the disciples could not understand? Um, I wanna share with you, uh, it's a principle, a paradigm to help make sense of Mary's seemingly irrational behavior. So is the, is the people of Jesus. When we are making really hard decisions, there are often two ways to look at them. The first is what we'll call kingdom economics. And the other is what we'll call worldly economics. Worldly economics goes like this, if I have and I invest a hundred dollars, I should get some kind of financial return on my investment. Does that sound fair to everybody here?
Speaker 1 00:22:11 Good. Awesome. If I don't, it's considered a bad investment. And in worldly economics, a financial return is the highest greatest kind of return. And worldly economics isn't bad. Money isn't bad. That's not the point of the illustration is to say that there is a way of doing things when you don't take into consideration the spiritual world. And, and in fact, we actually know to a degree, worldly economics is good and right, because the book of Proverbs teaches that if you don't invest your money and get a return, then you're a fool. And so here we go, kingdom economics, it's a little bit different. It also looks for a return on its investment, but understands that there is something more valuable than money. For example, spiritual fruit, sincere worship changed lives, gospel seeds being planted, kingdom ROIs are usually nonsense to worldly people. You gave how much, how much of your time you did what? That's ridiculous in the, in the kingdom of Jesus, our return on investment isn't money. What we do, we uniquely invest our energy, our valuables, our money, our heart in the kinds of things that God's word says, bear spiritual fruit.
Speaker 1 00:23:57 There, there are three areas of ministry that if you look at our budget historically, you're gonna notice that we probably spent a disproportionate amount of money on compared to other things. Number one, kids. Why? Because the Bible teaches that they're precious to the heart of God. There is no group of people more ready to receive and to believe the gospel for a lifetime than a kid. So we, we unusually invest our time, our energy, our money, our resources, and bringing the gospel and the word of God to kids. Number two, worship. Sincere worship is one of the highest callings that we have as a church to come together with one voice and 1 1, 1 heart to lift high. The name of Jesus Christ is sacred, and we wanna make sure we facilitate Christ-centered God glorifying worship. Number three, you'll notice in digital and teaching of God's word, we invest a lot into that because the Bible teaches the word of God does not come back void.
Speaker 1 00:25:09 We wanna make sure that the word of God has preached, but anybody who needs to access it can access it. What we're trying to do is make sure that when we think about the worldly human, uh, uh, resources that we ask and look to the word, what are the things that when your word says, we invest in these things, bear spiritual fruit. And so when we look at our own lives, this isn't just church leaders making these decisions. I look at my own life and I think I'm investing my time, my energy, my my treasures, my my schedule. And I wanna make sure that yes, I am wise with my resources, but I also wanna make sure I'm eternally wise. And I, I understand kingdom math and not just solely worldly math. Mary is making decisions using kingdom math. And Judas and the disciples have no category for it yet.
Speaker 1 00:26:01 They will, they will be discipled past this. But right now in this story, they don't. You gotta, I wanna share with you a funny conversation that I semi-frequently have. Um, when people find out when people are kind of newer to church, newer to Christianity, when they find out how many people give like random number 10% of their income to missionaries ministries and the church, their mind is blown. Like they're like, people do this. Like, yeah, actually quite a bit. Um, people are profoundly generous, they're shocked. And then here, here's what happens. They almost always begin to quantify what that looks like for their household and their head. And so there are two equations that are often going on. I'll share with you the equations. I think they're really actually interesting. Equation number one, it goes sort of like this in people's brain. If I gave 10% of my income to invest in the things the Bible says, bear spiritual fruit, that is millions of dollars that I won't have when I retire. Are you nuts? Equation number two, if I give 10% of my income to invest in things, the Bible says, bear spiritual fruit. My standard of living and vacations are gonna have to change.
Speaker 1 00:27:27 So let's get real. For most people, their red line is this. Don't ask me to give up my valuables and don't ask me to change my standard of living. I'll follow you anywhere. Just don't ask me to do that. People are also shocked when they hear how much time people give to ministries and the church for free blown away. Like, here are little things. I mean, it's not little whatever, but like, forgive me, Monday night. Do you know how many adults every Monday night, nine months of the year serve our kids in Awana? And and and one person said to me, every Monday, every Monday, do you know how many people serve our kids' ministry almost every week of the year? Like they get here at eight 30 and they serve, then they go to church. Mind blowing. Well, seriously, some people are like, people do that.
Speaker 1 00:28:33 How do you think that functions? <laugh> Forge leaders. I mean, forge leaders show up every Thursday and there's a bunch of them on a retreat right now, not getting any sleep, exhausting themselves, dealing with crazy kids investing, using kingdom math. What was the cost? They didn't get paid for it. That's for sure. If anything, they're paying with their exhaustion, then they leave with new relationships. And those kids are probably gonna be contacting them throughout the week and the month, praise God. And so it's not just the investment of the weekend, but it's also the increased time that it takes. And this is what they signed up for because they're using kingdom math, a production worship team. All these guys, they're incredible. And they call times 6:00 AM or six 30. The amount of men and women who do this every single week or two to three times a month, it's amazing.
Speaker 1 00:29:32 They don't get outta here till one or one 30 or later every single week. And people are shocked. Welcome to the world of kingdom math. We think about the things that are the most valuable to us. And, and, and, and, and kind of in the emerging culture, like two big, big values is money and time. And these now are sacred. These are the two most valuable things that most people have. And and when you're using Kingdom math, it just kind of makes you step back and say, all right, I understand how worldly math works, but what would my life look like if I was using Kingdom math? I wanna tell you the story of a good friend Brian Allen. Some of you know him, some of you don't. Um, Brian Allen, I, I think it was around 2012, he came to Village Church and I will never forget this day. He walks through the doors and I remember exactly where I'm standing. I remember who's to my left and I meet Brian Allen and we're having a little talk. And he is not a Christian at the time. And, and I love what Brian Allen said to me and I wrote it down. He said, I want to let you know on the front end that I do sound engineering and that I don't work for free. So please don't ask <laugh>.
Speaker 1 00:30:49 I I, I truly don't remember exactly what I said to him, but I remember like the general spirit was, Hey, sounds good. If I do ask, I'll pay you. You know, how's that sound? And I remember thinking to myself, what is the Lord up to? Because here's what's funny. We had been praying for sound gen engineers. We were praying for people to help us cuz we needed some, we needed some help back there, <laugh>. And so here comes this guy and I'm like, well, is he the answer? Well, within, I think it was a couple weeks, Brian heard the gospel believed in Jesus Christ, received the Holy Spirit, the forgiveness of sins. And Brian, before you know it, guess what he is doing? He is our chief sound engineer. And guess what? We paid the guy. Nothing <laugh> just like all of you, nothing. <laugh>.
Speaker 1 00:31:33 And Brian served faithfully. In fact, he helped, um, re um, structure and renovate our stage and our sound system. And then in 2015 and 16 when we launched Village Church East in Carol Stream, guess where he went? He went over to Carol's stream and he's their head sound sound engineer. And he's been doing it for six years ever since. I just, I love that the moment Brian came to Christ, it's like the Lord was just like, mm, bad math. That's worldly math. Now we gotta get into kingdom math. Kingdom economics. They're much more, I'll say glorifying to Jesus Christ. I dunno if I said this yet, but this is not a sermon by the way, on serving. It's not a sermon on giving. It's not a sermon on money. I'm not even gonna presume to know for each and every one of you, what is the thing that stands between you and Jesus.
Speaker 1 00:32:25 That line that you're like, I'm not sure I'm ready to surrender that. And so my expectation is that all of you have committed to not punch the Holy Spirit in the back of your brain. You've offered up prayers saying, holy Spirit, would you, would you show me what it is? Let me tell you personally, I am an idolator. Um, I love a whole lot of things in this world and Jesus is regularly saying, give it up. And just when I think I've given everything up that stands between Jesus and I, John Calvin says, the heart is an idol making factory. And there goes my heart creating another thing like your pastor, all of your elders, all of your whatever, your small group leader, let me just let you in a little secret. We have never mastered this. And there is always something that is grabbing for our affections that we might love more than Jesus.
Speaker 1 00:33:22 And God is jealous. He wants you. He wants all of you. And he is patient because he knows even in the moments that he has all of you, there is something else your heart is creating in its little idol making factory, getting ready to supplant Jesus as your first love. And when you confess and repent of that one, guess what your heart is probably still doing quietly in the deep recess is creating another, another idol. And Jesus lovingly calls those out. Sometimes FairWarning, sometimes after opportunity after opportunity of offering you to let it go, he will inevitably rip it out of your hands. Amen. That has happened to me multiple times cuz I am stubborn and my heart likes what my heart likes, but Jesus wants all of me and all of you.
Speaker 1 00:34:20 Might I be even more bold? Have you ever, have you ever wondered why maybe your life, your ministry isn't bearing the kind of spiritual fruit that you hoped it would? Um, I'll give you just maybe three reasons why that might be. Here's one. Because of willful sin in your life. If you have kids, I didn't, even if you don't, you can relate to this. Sometimes I, my my daughter will be like, uh, fighting with me and really mean and I'm on a phone, you know? And I'm like, why would you ask me for a phone after you've been really mean to me? Does that make any sense? It's like going to your boss. You're such a terrible ball boss. I can't believe you. Can I have a raise? What <laugh> like at least butter 'em up a little bit. I don't know. And so we're like, we have this willful sin in our life.
Speaker 1 00:35:11 We're like, ah, idol idle, feed it, feed it feed. And we know we should let it go. Bear more fruit through me. I want my life to matter and I want people to see me. Whatever. Like get rid of the willful sin. If you know it and you see it, get rid of it. Confess it, repent of it. Here's here's the second reason. Maybe spiritual fruit isn't happening in your life like you want because you don't live with kingdom math in mind and you, you don't do the kinds of things that the Bible says. Bear spiritual fruit. For example, spiritual or sacrificially serving others in your church that bears spiritual fruit according to the word engaging the word of God, worshiping Jesus, using your spiritual gifts, sacrificially giving, getting rid of willful sin. All of these things the Bible talks about are things that when you do them, they bear spiritual fruit in you and others. Here, here's a third plausible reason. Maybe there isn't spiritual fruit in your life or ministry in the way you want to see it because you keep what Jesus has asked you to give up. Like you know, like right now you know exactly your next step and you are fighting, you are trying to crunch the spirit and he's like, stop it. You know what to do. And you're like, I'm not ready. I can't do it. That's my red line.
Speaker 1 00:36:40 Let me, let me identify the red line for most suburban Christians. If following Jesus threatens my standard of living or my treasures, I'm out. Or better yet, I'll stay on the sidelines. I wanna go all the way back to the book of second Chronicles chapter 16 verse nine. It's a verse you're probably familiar with, but I wanna read this to you, says this, for the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth to give strong support to those whose heart is blameless toward him, that does not mean sinless, blameless. They're looking and I don't think the eyes of the Lord have stopped running to and fro throughout the entire globe to see who, who will get rid of their line in the sand once and for all. Now there's more to this verse and most people don't read it, but I wanna read it for you because I think it's really important.
Speaker 1 00:37:48 And this is what God says to the people of Israel, his people you have done foolishly in this. For from now on you will have wars. And it's interesting because what God wants, get rid of the red lines wherever I ask you to go, follow me. Whatever I ask you to surrender, surrender, whatever I ask you to do, just go do it. Whatever the cost to you is, it's okay. Get rid of the notion of red lines. And one of the reasons Mary is a hero of the four sermons and the four groups of people we're gonna talk about, she's the only one with no red line. She's the only one. She is a hero. She is somebody that, it's funny cuz you think it'd be the disciples. Oh no, it's Mary. She is the one who Jesus highlights and says, when you preach the gospel, you tell this woman's story because she gets it. The disciples, they couldn't do kingdom math, yet they will. They're gonna learn it and we're gonna watch them learn it and it's gonna be really amazing. So maybe you're here and you're like, yep, I'm not living with kingdom, kingdom math. The story of the disciples is great encouragement for you through the rest of John because you can learn. Because they can learn. Amen. I'll share with you too. So what has Jesus ever asked you to invest or give up something of value for his kingdom?
Speaker 1 00:39:18 Have you obeyed, I have never met a Christian where Jesus says, I'm gonna save you, but I'm not gonna require anything of you. If you are a follower of Christ, he will require of you sacrifice. Now your salvation doesn't hinge on it, but if you are going to follow him and participate with him, it will require you getting rid of your red lines. In my my experience, there's two big reasons why Jesus asks people to give up things of great value. Number one, because you have something that if invested in the kingdom of God will bear much fruit. Right? Some of you know exactly what it is, you're like, ah, this thing, this ministry, the skill, whatever, you know that if you invested god's like invest that and God wants to use you and the people of God in the church to grow one another spiritually. But in my experience, Jesus asks people to give up things of great value. Not just because those things will likely bear spiritual fruit, but because you have something that has become more valuable to you than Jesus. And I've learned the hard way. There are some things that you can't keep and keep Jesus first.
Speaker 1 00:40:49 I, I hate saying that there are some things in our lives that we must get rid of because as long as they're there, they're Paul on our heart is too strong. Some of them might be good things, some of them might be bad things. I'm not even, I'm gonna presume to know your story, but I do know you have the Holy Spirit. And I do know that if your heart and your mind are tender to his voice, he may start showing you these aren't things just to surrender and to give back, but they're actually things to get rid of because your heart can't handle it.
Speaker 1 00:41:32 If you're a Christian here and um, maybe you're actually in the process of surrender, and I wanna just encourage you, great job, what you are doing is a beautiful thing to Jesus. He, he looks at your act of surrender. And if, if he would audibly talk to you and say, well done, good and faithful servant, I'm proud of you, keep it up. I know that was hard. I know that was costly. I know people look down on you. I know it costs you things of deep value in your soul. But what matters most is I am very proud of you. And whatever you sacrifice, surrender or giveaway today, you will be rewarded beyond your imagination. Good job. Keep it up. It's really hard. And when the process culminates, be ready. Cuz your idol making heart is making another one. So what Number two, non-Christian today, your creator is asking for you to give back to him that which is most valuable to you, your heart and your eternity.
Speaker 1 00:42:40 And if you're, you're here and you have never, ever trusted in Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, today is the greatest day to do it. Maybe you're here and, and you believe Jesus is your God and creator, and he died for your sins and he was raised from the dead. Well, Satan also believes that. But you know what the difference is? Christians repent and trust in Christ. Have you ever come to him and said, I am sorry. Forgive me, save me. And God's promise is that anybody who believes in Jesus Christ death and resurrection immediately, permanently, forever, your sins will be forgiven and you will be given the gift of the Holy Spirit who is there to help you figure out how to live for Jesus Christ. If that is a decision you've never made today, I want to just strongly encourage you, come to Christ.
Speaker 1 00:43:46 We're gonna have a moment. I'm gonna pray for you in a moment and take that time. There's no mantra. You have to say, tell God you're sorry you believe in Jesus. Ask him to save you. And if that's a decision you wanna make today, tell somebody you came with or after the service, there'll be somebody at our prayer booth who'd love to pray with you. Tell them or hunt me down or somebody you know, and just say, today I've made the decision to give my soul to Jesus Christ and to allow him to steward it. And as you've heard me say over the past month or two, there is no greater steward of your heart, your body, and your soul than your creator Jesus Christ. Amen. I wanna take some time, I wanna pray for you. And I'm very excited because we're gonna celebrate, um, a baptism that happened at the 9:00 AM Service and you're gonna get to watch it.
Speaker 1 00:44:31 So let's pray together. Father we love you and I wanna thank you for highlighting people like Mary. Not a disciple, not an apostle, didn't write scripture. A faithful woman who had no red line. God, we, we hear this and those of us who are Christians, there's a part of us that's just like, yes, amen. I want that. And if we're also being honest, Lord, there might be some things that your Holy Spirit is prompting. And so God, even as we wrestle through all of this, I wanna say thank you for again the blood of Christ, that even amidst our wrestling and struggling and idle making heart, you declare us cleansed and forgiven. And there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ. Lord, we just hold onto that Lord, you are faithful even when we're faithless and so God, um, with the purest hearts.
Speaker 1 00:45:31 And we want to be able to say, I will follow you anywhere. And so, Lord, where there is a gap between those words and our heart, would you gently or not gently expose it? Would you help us not just to become more like Christ, but to get rid of whatever causes us hesitance to follow you and your will? And so, Lord, we love you and I'm so thankful, um, for every good gift you've given us and the joy and the privilege that we have to follow you and your patience as we struggle to figure it out. We love you. We thank you, and we pray all of this and Jesus name, amen. Amen. Amen.
