The First Shall be Last

[0:00] And we had a few things that kind of led up to this point. We looked at the transfiguration of Jesus, and then when Jesus came down from the mountain, there was a problem casting out a demon and all that went with that.

[0:13] And today we're going to be looking at, they travel a little bit, and then Jesus has some more things he wants to tell his disciples. He's going to tell them about his impending death and resurrection again.

[0:28] He told them before, and now he's going to say it again. It seems like the first time they were really confused, and it doesn't seem like they have much more clarity this time, but we'll look at that a bit further.

[0:40] And then Jesus addresses something that his disciples were discussing on the road about which one of them will be the greatest. And we're going to look at this seemingly upside-down, inside-out nature of the kingdom of God.

[0:59] And as usual, we'll try to do some comparison and contrasting of what Jesus taught in his ministry and what the principles were and the way things worked when it comes to the kingdom of God, the messianic kingdom, and then how that might apply to us in the age of grace.

[1:20] So we're going to start here, Mark 9, chapter 30. We're just going to read through, and then we're going to go back verse by verse. So Mark 9, verse 30.

[1:30] Then they departed from there and passed through Galilee, and he did not want anyone to know it. For he taught his disciples and said to them, The Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of men, and they will kill him.

[1:45] And after he is killed, he will rise the third day. But they did not understand this saying, and they were afraid to ask. Or afraid to ask him.

[1:58] Then he came to Capernaum, and when he was in the house, he asked them, What was it you disputed among yourselves on the road? But they kept silent.

[2:10] For on the road they had disputed among themselves who would be the greatest. And he sat down, called the twelve, and said to them, If anyone desires to be first, he shall be last of all, and servant of all.

[2:27] Then he took a little child, and he set him in the midst of them. And when he had taken him in his arms, he said to them, Whoever receives one of these little children in my name receives me.

[2:41] And whoever receives me receives not me, but him who sent me. So Jesus, they're traveling again.

[2:53] They had just had this interaction with some of the people, and this father and son who had a demon that would not come out, and finally Jesus, he was able to cast it out.

[3:05] But it says, They departed, here in verse 30, they departed from there, and they passed through Galilee. Galilee is where Jesus was from. Galilee actually was where many of his disciples were from, where he did a lot of his ministry.

[3:19] Then it says this, He did not want anyone to know it. We see this actually a few times throughout the Gospels. Jesus didn't want people to know where he was.

[3:33] That wasn't always the case. Jesus' ministry was very public, and that was intentional. It was intended to be very public. But there were times like this one where he wanted a little bit of alone time, not just for himself, but for him and his disciples, and that's what we see here.

[3:51] For it says in verse 31, For he taught his disciples. He was looking for some private time with his disciples. And he said to them, The Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of men, and they will kill him.

[4:06] And after he's killed, he'll rise the third day. Jesus is telling them, Hey, I'm going to die, and I'm going to rise again. He had just told them that. I don't know how long ago, weeks maybe, or days before this that we read about in chapter 8.

[4:24] But he's telling them again. And this won't be the last time he tells them. And what does it say? But they did not understand this saying, and they were afraid to ask.

[4:36] Well, Jesus said something about this before. Have you ever, you know, been afraid to ask a question, right, in class? Because I think the teacher already said this, and I don't get it, but I'm afraid to ask because I might get reprimanded, right, for not listening or not paying attention or something like that.

[4:53] I think that might have been what was going on here. They did not understand. They still do not understand what is about to happen. Remember that they're following Jesus.

[5:07] They know he's the Messiah. The Messiah is a person that has been prophesied about by the prophets for millennia. And so they're students of the Bible, students of the Scripture.

[5:20] And so they're familiar with what the Messiah is supposed to do. He is supposed to bring a conquering kingdom to the earth to restore the kingdom of Israel. And that is what was on the mind of most of the Jews as far as the Messiah.

[5:34] But there are some things also that the prophets spoke of that were a little more shrouded in mystery, if you will. They weren't quite as explicit. And those things were things that were prophesied, but in a lot more of a kind of less explicit way.

[5:53] And that was the death of the Messiah. And they didn't understand that. They didn't get it. It's interesting to note, though, that Peter, who's the one that recognized, he's the kind of spokesperson of the disciples.

[6:07] Eventually, these disciples will understand. Not quite now. Jesus is trying to prepare them. But it says later on that after Jesus died, they got it.

[6:23] There was this aha moment. And they looked back on what Jesus had told them before. And they're like, I get it now. There's actually a verse in 1 Peter 3, where Peter, this is one of Jesus' disciples, says this, For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God.

[6:51] That was something that he didn't get at the time. He didn't, at this time, at this period, this point which we're reading, Peter didn't get this. The rest of the disciples, they did not get this.

[7:02] But eventually, they got it. That Jesus was going to die. The just, the righteous, for the unrighteous. That he might bring all of us. I don't think, like we were talking about this in Sunday school, at the time, you know, the Bible, the scriptures, the law, was for who?

[7:22] Was it for everybody? It was for the Jews. And people could become Jews, right, if they wanted to. Go through the process of circumcision, and then you had to keep the law. You could become a proselyte.

[7:33] But the law was for the Jewish people. And Jesus died for all. You know, I think the lesson, you know, as we just kind of focus on this, these three scriptures, what's the lesson for us today?

[7:51] There's many people today that don't understand what Jesus did. They see the teachings, they read the parables, and those things are important. It's important to understand the whole Bible.

[8:02] But the number one, most important thing, not only for the disciples to know, the people at that time, but for people today to know, the number one thing is that Jesus died for our sins.

[8:16] That's it, to recognize, one, that we need a Savior, that we needed someone to do that for us, and to recognize who that was and what was accomplished in that.

[8:31] We'll continue on here. It says, then he came to Capernaum. And when he was in the house, he asked them, what was it that you disputed among yourselves on the road?

[8:43] It says they came to Capernaum. Capernaum was the place where Peter and Andrew were from. And in fact, when it says here, when he was in the house, it's very likely that he was actually in their house, in their family's house.

[9:01] And so, we'll see maybe how that's a little bit relevant a little bit later. And he asked them a question. And it seems obvious as he asked them this question that he already knows the answer, right?

[9:18] And it reminds me of a time, another time, when God asked a question to a man and a woman. Anybody remember that back in Genesis? Where God asked the man and the woman, where are you?

[9:34] Right? And was that another situation? Was that a situation where God was not sure? He was looking around. Where'd you guys go? Where are you? He knew exactly where they were, but he was asking the question because it was meant to communicate something.

[9:51] You know, why do you think that you can hide from me? Why are you hiding? What is it that's causing you to hide? And this is so much like a father, right?

[10:04] Anybody remember a time when they were a child especially and your parents asked you a question and you knew, they knew the answer? They were just asking because they wanted to bring it to the forefront.

[10:16] That's what Jesus is doing here. What was it that you guys were talking about on the road as we were walking to Capernaum? And then it says this, but they kept silent.

[10:29] They were embarrassed, right? They had an idea that what they were talking about was maybe not the best. It wasn't necessarily appropriate.

[10:40] it kind of was maybe immature or childish. And it says this, for on the road they had disputed among themselves about who would be the greatest.

[10:54] And a question to ask is, well, what does that mean? The greatest? Who will be the greatest? Does it mean like who's the greatest thumb wrestler? You know, men especially, right?

[11:07] And these are all guys. Men like to compete when it comes to anything, right? Is there anything that men don't like to compete on? Men will compete about who's the fastest.

[11:20] Oh, I'll race you to the other side. See who can get there first. Who can jump the highest to see who can dunk the ball in the basket. Or who can lift the heaviest weights, you know?

[11:32] Oh, I, you know, can you pick this up? Oh, I can pick it up. Even if we break our backs, right, sometimes. Who can score the most touchdowns, right? We saw that last weekend.

[11:46] Even to the place where who can make the most money or build the tallest skyscraper. All kinds of different things. Even to sometimes the silliest things that women just roll their eyes at.

[11:59] You know, who can eat the hottest chili pepper? Or who can carry the most bags of groceries from the car into the house? Anybody ever seen that?

[12:11] Or who can balance a broomstick on their finger the longest? And these are the kinds of things that you see, especially among men and boys. And I'm sure women think, what strange creatures these are, these men that are always doing these silly things.

[12:29] It's immature, childish, but you know, really, this is the way that God designed men. God designed men to be competitive. To look for opportunities to take charge.

[12:42] To put things in order. But the account, and as we read through this, we're going to be looking at a parallel account from the witness of Matthew.

[12:55] And that's in Matthew chapter 18. And so, let's just read Matthew chapter 18, verse 1, to get a little bit more insight into what they were talking about when they said, who's going to be the greatest?

[13:10] In Matthew chapter 18, 1, it says this, at that time, the disciples came to Jesus saying, who then is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? Who's the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?

[13:25] So they're talking about greatness in a kingdom that is coming. Again, they knew that there was, the prophets had said that the kingdom of Israel, the kingdom of David, would be restored on the earth.

[13:39] And they also knew that they had a part to play in that. Well, which of us will be the greatest in that kingdom? Which of us is going to have the most authority or the highest position of dignity, an honor and glory?

[13:56] Which one of us? And was this something that they, you know, were just kind of making up? Well, no. These weren't just foolish assumptions about what Jesus is going to do for us.

[14:10] In fact, a little later on, we see Jesus telling them because they ask a similar question about what's going to, what will their role be in this coming kingdom?

[14:22] And this is in Matthew chapter 19 verse 28. So Jesus said to them, Assuredly I say to you that in the regeneration, that's the restoration of Israel is what he's talking about, when the Son of Man sits on the throne of his glory, and you who have followed me will also, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.

[14:50] You see, there were definite plans for position and authority in the coming kingdom to help Jesus with his rule. And the coming kingdom, Jesus' coming kingdom on the earth will in many ways be similar to a kingdom that we see today.

[15:10] It's not going to be completely different. There will be differences, that's for sure. There will be no corruption. There will be no corrupt judges who make up sentences just out of thin air, make up judgments out of thin air like we see today just because they have a bone to pick with somebody or because they're being paid off, because they have some kind of political motivation behind it.

[15:34] Those kinds of things will not be allowed because the king who sits on the throne, the king of all kings, will not allow it. But, like today's kingdom, you know, one king cannot handle everything.

[15:48] You need people to help. You need maybe a cabinet, you know, members of your cabinet or other people at lower levels to oversee different parts of your kingdom.

[15:59] And here we see Jesus describing saying for his twelve apostles, his twelve disciples, I'm going to have each one of you over one of the twelve tribes of Israel and that will be your domain.

[16:14] You will help me rule. And so that was, that was going to be their role. But, he wasn't really happy with kind of their approach, their attitude, really the childishness, immaturity when it comes to thinking about their position.

[16:39] Because, as Jesus is about to explain here, it's not really about position, honor, dignity, it's about something else. And so, verse 35, he sits down.

[16:52] Jesus, he's going to teach a lesson to his disciples and so he sits down to teach them. And he called the twelve together and he said to them, if anyone desires to be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all.

[17:09] And this phrase is actually used several times throughout the Gospels. And what does it mean first versus last? If anyone desires to be first, he shall be last of all.

[17:19] Is this talking about, you know, if you're the first in line, then you're going to be moved to the last of the line. If you're the last, you're going to be moved to the first in line. And we actually see this used in actually a few different contexts.

[17:36] There's another context in which Jesus tells his disciples, not only the twelve, but anyone else following after him, that if anyone is willing in order to follow him to forsake their job, their career, their houses, their lands, in order to come follow him, that they will receive an extra benefit in the kingdom.

[18:02] It says this, Matthew 19, verse 29, And everyone who has left houses, or brothers, or sisters, or fathers, or mothers, or wife, or children, or lands, for my namesake, he shall receive a hundredfold and inherit eternal life.

[18:18] But many who are first will be last, and the last first. So there's this paradigm, this idea, when it comes to the nature of the kingdom that is coming, this kind of upside down, inside out way of things.

[18:39] People who are kind of first in line, who prioritize authority, who prioritize wealth, who prioritize just the natural parts of life, will end up being last.

[18:55] But those who forsake some of these things, they'll actually benefit later on. Also, just one chapter later, in Matthew 20, verse 14, Jesus is giving a parable about day laborers, and saying, some will start early in the morning with their labor, and they'll be promised a certain wage, and then throughout the day, the hiring master, whatever, will hire people throughout the day, until the very end of the day, in which he'll hire somebody, they only work for half an hour, an hour, but they get the same wage.

[19:37] And in telling that story, he ends with this, because there were people who started earlier, and they're complaining about those who got paid the same, even though they didn't work the full day.

[19:50] But in Matthew chapter 20, verse 14, he finishes the parable with this, take what is yours, and go your way. I wish to give to this last man the same as you.

[20:03] Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with my own things? Or is your eye evil, because I am good? So the last will be first, and the first last.

[20:15] For many are called, but few are chosen. He's saying, listen, I can decide to give a benefit to anybody. Whether they've been faithful for a long time, or faithful for just a short while.

[20:33] You know, this isn't the only time where Jesus seems to refer to things kind of in an upside down, inside out manner. Jesus also said something to the effect of, hey, if you want to save your life, what did he say?

[20:49] You must lose it. If you want to save your life, you must lose it. He says, whoever would humble himself, he will be exalted.

[21:00] If you humble yourself, if you lower yourself, you will be lifted up. He says that the meek, those who are lowly, who put themselves low and humble, they will be the ones to inherit the earth, which I think is a reference to the coming kingdom of God, the messianic kingdom to come on the earth.

[21:25] The other thing I think that's interesting is he mentions those, he says, if you desire to be first, if you desire or if anyone desires to be first, this is what you ought to do.

[21:40] He doesn't say, well, desiring to be first is a rotten thing to do. He doesn't say that. God. In fact, he seems to be okay with that.

[21:53] I'm going to be giving people positions of power and authority and position in this coming kingdom. It makes me think about when Paul talks about positions within the church, leadership within the church.

[22:09] He says, it's a faithful saying, if a man desires the position of a bishop or an elder or a pastor or whatever leadership in a church, he says, he desires a good work.

[22:21] It's actually a good desire for someone to desire to lead, to be in a position where you can lead and guide other people. But the question is, why are you desiring that?

[22:38] What is your purpose? How are you going to lead? So he takes a little child. This is verse 36 back to Mark. It says, then he took a little child and he set him in the midst of them.

[22:51] And when he had taken him in his arms, he said to them, whoever receives one of these little children in my name receives me. And whoever receives me, receives not me, but him who sent me.

[23:06] So Jesus is providing a visual. And so he's in a house. And I think it's very likely he's in Peter's house or maybe Peter and Andrew's house or a family belonging to their larger family.

[23:24] And there's a child among them, right? If you have a household, a lot of times there are children there. So he invites one of the kids, come over here, I'm going to use you for an object lesson, for an illustration.

[23:38] And he's sitting down and he has a child in his arms, it says, probably on his lap. He says, listen guys, whoever receives one of these little children, a little child like this receives me.

[23:57] You know, when the Bible talks about children and it uses children for illustrations, Jesus used children several times for an illustration, it can be talking about many things because children can represent many things.

[24:13] One of the things children represent is innocence, right? Children are innocent. Another thing that children can represent is a purity of faith or trust.

[24:25] Children just trust, little children trust whatever their parents tell them, right? And that's a positive thing. And children are used to illustrate that. Another thing that children illustrate is immaturity or foolishness, right?

[24:41] Children lack wisdom and can grow in wisdom as they grow older, but there is a lack of wisdom and maturity. And then the other thing I think that children can represent is a weakness or vulnerability.

[24:54] Children need to be protected from danger, from harm. But in this case, I think it's clear that what the child represents is not any of those things, but this child represents a lowly position.

[25:12] When it comes to authority, when it comes to honor, when it comes to dignity, children are on the low part of the totem pole, if you will, right?

[25:24] And I think maybe we don't think about it that way today because maybe children are put a little bit higher maybe than they should be a lot of times in our culture. And I don't think this, you know, Jesus didn't talk about a baby or a toddler.

[25:38] I think he probably brought out a maybe, you know, eight-year-old, ten-year-old, twelve-year-old, something like that. In Matthew chapter, going back to Matthew chapter 18 and looking at that parallel passage, in verse 2, it describes it this way.

[25:57] Then Jesus called a little child to him, set him in the midst of them and said, Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.

[26:12] Therefore, whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And so, he's not using the child, remember here Jesus is saying you need to become like a child.

[26:29] And he's not saying, well, you should become foolish like a child, right, or immature like a child. That's not what he's getting at. But really, he's talking about the humility of a child. Become like a child in humility.

[26:41] Lower yourself to the place of a child. You know, in our family, we have seven kids. And you have the parents, right?

[26:52] And the parents are in charge. By the way, that's how things are supposed to work. I know not all families operate that way, but that's how families are supposed to operate. The parents are in charge. And the children are supposed to obey the parents.

[27:03] But then you have somewhat of a hierarchy among the children, right? You've got the older ones, and they get to boss the little ones around. And sometimes they take great pleasure in that.

[27:16] But if you're the youngest of the children, you just get bossed around all the time, right? Anybody grow up the youngest? You know, you get bossed around by the older kids.

[27:27] And who do you have to boss around, you know? Maybe you can kick the cat if the cat's in the way, right? But that's about it. And so that's what I think of here.

[27:38] You know, the lowest on the total, Paul, you don't have any authority. You don't have any dignity or honor. You don't get to tell anybody what to do. So become like that child in humility.

[27:50] humility. Lowering yourself to a place of serving those who are lowly. He says this, whoever receives one of these children.

[28:05] What does that mean, receives one of these children? Well, in service. You know, you can, if somebody comes to you in need, you can either receive them and help them out, or you can reject them.

[28:18] Nope, I'm not willing to help you. I'm not willing to serve you. Whoever receives one of these little ones, whoever receives one of these little ones in my name, they receive me.

[28:38] And so Jesus is saying, listen, this is a service that I want you to provide for others in my name. And when you do it, you're doing it for me because this is what I want from you.

[28:51] This is what I came for. I came not to serve, Jesus said, or not to be served, I should say, I got it backwards, not to be served, but to serve and to lay my life down as a ransom for many.

[29:04] So when you serve others, it's like you're, or when you receive others in service, it's like you're receiving me. And then he goes on further and he says, whoever receives me receives not me, but him who sent me, the Father.

[29:27] And so this is very different from how the world works, right? The disciples are thinking about their position, their authority in the coming kingdom. But Jesus said, hey, listen, I don't want you to be like how the world works.

[29:39] In fact, in chapter 10, this idea comes up again and we'll look at it again probably more briefly at then. But Jesus said, you know, this is how things work among the Gentiles.

[29:51] They, when they're in positions of authority, they lord it over their subjects. They lord it over them, which is not a term we're familiar with. But basically, they take full advantage of their authority to use for their own benefit, for their own sake, and not for the benefit of those who are they, who they're in authority over.

[30:14] But worldly wisdom says, hey, if you want a position of power, you need to fight for it. You need to vie for it. You need to battle for it. You need to, you know, manipulate things towards your favor.

[30:26] Rub shoulders with people who are of higher rank, right? You don't need to spend time with lowly people who don't have any power or prestige or money. You know, it's a waste of time spending your time with those kinds of people, serving those kinds of people.

[30:44] But that's not what Jesus wanted. So, let's just kind of look at this big picture way. Jesus talking to his disciples about this.

[30:58] And I want to look at it in two aspects. One is the current context. Jesus is speaking in the context of a coming kingdom and how things are supposed to work. You know, it's actually super critical.

[31:11] This isn't optional for Jesus. In fact, as we'll read later and we'll look at this next week, Jesus talks about hell and fire.

[31:26] And he's saying, listen, there are things that must be done for you and all of my disciples in order to enter into the kingdom. Don't take this lightly.

[31:37] This is important. If you spend your life here in this time before the kingdom comes, vying for power, then you might miss the kingdom.

[31:49] You might miss it completely. It was required for them to humble themselves, to become meek, to inherit the kingdom, to inherit, as Jesus said earlier in the Beatitudes, to inherit the earth.

[32:05] And their greater, the more they served, it seemed, Jesus taught them, to the degree that they were servants to others was the degree to which they would be elevated in this coming kingdom, this messianic kingdom that was coming to the earth.

[32:24] And like I said, we'll discuss and look at that in more detail next week. But I think it's important also to look at us. We, as believers, live in a little bit of a different age.

[32:37] We're not preparing for a kingdom that is coming to the earth like the Jews. We live in an age which we call the age of grace in which we're telling people Jesus died for your sins and all you have to do is believe in him and you can have eternal life and live forever.

[32:59] And under that administration, under this age of grace, there isn't anything we have to do as far as service, serving others, humbling ourselves before others in order to gain that salvation.

[33:17] Jesus, God says, I'm willing to give that away for free to anybody who will just humble themselves before me and say, I'm a sinner, I need salvation, and I trust you, Jesus, and what you did for me for my salvation.

[33:35] That's the only requirement. There aren't any other requirements to get into something like the kingdom of God, this messianic kingdom. If you want to become part of God's family in this age of grace, just trust in what you did on that cross.

[33:55] But also, in this age of grace, I don't see that our service to others will even provide us with any greater rank in heaven.

[34:07] That we'll have some position of higher authority or power in heaven if we do things a certain way or accomplish certain things here on the earth or serve in the best way or live the best kind of life.

[34:24] Yet, humility and service to others has always been a virtue from the very beginning of creation, right? It's not like there's certain periods of time in which God says, I want everybody to be full of pride and to neglect their neighbor and his needs.

[34:42] Never, ever. So we ought to live lives of humility and service to others.

[34:57] But, for us, it's not because we will receive a reward, not because we will receive a higher rank or a position in a future kingdom, because it's the right and good thing to do.

[35:12] Because our Savior, Jesus Christ, that's what he did. And we want to be like him, like our Savior, like as the Bible says, like our brother, like our friend, Jesus.

[35:31] And so, we do, in this life, we need to take the lead. we shouldn't abdicate any position of leadership or authority that we have.

[35:41] And that's not what Jesus is telling his disciples. We just need to lead in a different way, with a certain kind of attitude and a purpose. Not for our sakes, not for our own benefit, but for the sake and the benefit of others.

[35:58] And so, just looking at a few examples, because we're all in positions of leadership, I guess, you know, when you're three years old, you know, you don't have much responsibility. But as we get older and become adults, all of us are in positions of leadership and authority that we need to take seriously.

[36:14] And so, a few examples, as parents, right? Parents need to lead. You don't let the kids rule the house. Parents need to be in charge. They need to set order in the house. But as parents, we're investing so much time and energy and resources and money into the love and care and attention towards our children.

[36:37] Not just, you know, sitting on the couch while we give orders to do this and do that, though sometimes that's necessary, right? I think of nursing moms, you know. But even then, right, you're serving a little baby.

[36:52] We give up sleep, right? All kinds of different things to serve our children. Husbands. The Bible talks about in Ephesians, laying down your life for your wife.

[37:08] Living a sacrificial life, loving sacrificially. Just as Christ laid down his life for the church, husbands, you also ought to love your wives, Paul says in Ephesians.

[37:23] A leadership, not to forsake the leadership of the husband because the Bible teaches and has from the very beginning of creation that husbands ought to lead their families.

[37:35] Not to forsake that, but to do it in a loving and a sacrificial way as servants to their families. I think about civic leaders and boy, right, we see a lot of this where people use their position of authority to what?

[37:53] Enrich themselves to gain more power. It happens all over the world and we see it here in this country. But what's my, you know what my favorite term for a politician is?

[38:08] Public servant, right? And isn't that what they're supposed to be? A public servant? A servant to the public. And that's what leadership is meant to be, a place of service.

[38:18] Not to put your interests first and look at ways that you can vie to, you know, get money towards your campaign or whatever, but how can I serve the public, the people that I am, you know, responsible for, the citizens that I'm responsible for, how can I serve them?

[38:39] And then also spiritual leaders. You know, a shepherd of a church is not there to be served by the church, but to, and not to fleece the flock like sometimes we see through, you know, the televangelist scandals that have happened.

[38:56] Not to gain power or position, but to serve the sheep through guidance, teaching, and protection from harm. And then the last thing I want to look at, especially in this age of grace in which there is a gospel message that Jesus died for the sins of the world.

[39:16] And that we can be leaders, all of us, in leading people to Christ. To show them the way of salvation, how they might have eternal life.

[39:28] Not considering ourselves as believers, as better than those other people. Not trying to stay away from the filth and the dirt of the world.

[39:44] not isolating ourselves, but as the Bible says, living in the world among even the believers. Even those who not only don't believe, but they are anti-Christ.

[39:58] Those who don't like Christians, don't like the rules and regulations that are in the Bible, don't like the morality of the Christian life.

[40:09] to live in that world even though we are careful not to be of the world. We live in it. Paul says this in 1 Corinthians chapter 9.

[40:27] 1 Corinthians chapter 9 verse 19. He's talking about his ministry, his ministry of the gospel, of sharing the gospel with both Jew and Gentile alike.

[40:41] For though I am free from all men, he says, I don't have any obligations to any man, I have made myself a servant to all. I've made myself to be a man of service to anyone that I might win the more.

[41:00] To the Jews I became as a Jew that I might win Jews. To those who are under the law as under the law. that I might win those who are under the law.

[41:11] To those who are without law as without law not being without law toward God but under the law toward Christ that I might win those who are without the law. He's talking about this difference between the Jews who are under the law of Moses and the Gentiles.

[41:25] They don't have the law of Moses. They have different laws maybe from the Romans to the weak. I become as weak.

[41:35] weak. I'm not going to pass them by because they're weak. That I might win the weak. I have become all things to all men that I might by all means save some.

[41:47] Now this I do for the gospel's sake. I'm not living my life for my own sake for my own benefit. I'm living my life for a higher calling.

[41:58] for the sake of them and the sake of the gospel. Serving not just our children not just our wives not just our families not just our citizens not just our church members but even serving those who are outside of the faith the lost the unbeliever even the apathetic the revilers the persecutors we are to live a life of service even to them.

[42:32] That maybe just maybe we might win them to Christ. Amen. There was a last week there was the Super Bowl I'll end with this because it's kind of on my mind and it ties in just a little bit.

[42:56] And then we'll have our little business meeting after that. But during the Super Bowl there was a commercial now we actually watched the Super Bowl last week but we skip all the commercials because sometimes it's too risky sometimes to put on the commercials especially with the kids.

[43:14] But later on I found out there was a Jesus commercial. Anybody see that or hear about it or whatever? There was a Jesus commercial that was on and it was quite controversial. and it was you know there weren't many words there were a few words that came at the end but it just put up all these pictures and it was pictures of people washing others feet.

[43:37] And this commercial was controversial among both Christians and non-Christians. because of who the pictures represented there were those I'm trying to remember some of the examples but there was a police officer who was washing the feet of a black man and there was a woman who looked like she was with a group of anti-abortion protesters washing the feet of a woman a young woman who's sitting in front of an abortion clinic.

[44:09] And then I think there was another one it looks like they're not all labeled so you're trying to discern but it looks like an illegal immigrant and her feet are being washed by someone who looks like she's probably a citizen.

[44:25] And so why was this controversial? Well at the end of the commercial it says let me see if I can I think I wrote it down Jesus didn't teach hate he washed feet.

[44:40] And so in one way right you think well I can put myself what's what's this really saying right it's kind of confusing what it's saying but some people thought and maybe they're right that well this commercial is saying that those who oppose illegal immigration or who oppose abortion or who oppose you know some of these other issues they're haters and so this is a dig against conservative Christians.

[45:20] Then there are those who are on the other side the anti-Christian side and they looked up well who is this organization behind this whole thing anyway and well it looks like they're the kind of people they're part of this evangelical group and they're the kinds of people that are supporting some of these things like these anti-abortion initiatives and so it was pretty controversial and so it's hard to discern what it was all about but I think my biggest takeaway is one of the things that was noted was people can there are analytics about Google searches and you can look and see publicly some of the public information and Google searches for Jesus during the Super Bowl went through the roof all these people looking up Jesus even higher than what they were during Christmas they said more people during the

[46:22] Super Bowl were searching Jesus than even during Christmas and it reminds me of something that Jesus or that Paul said and Paul was complaining about certain people who were out to get him and I didn't write this down but he said something to the effect of some people preach Christ out of envy and malice basically and he says that's fine doesn't matter you know what people are hearing about Jesus because that's who they need to hear about and so I'm grateful I'm grateful for that commercial regardless of what it was trying to betray because you know what people heard about Jesus and that's the one that they need to hear about and the people that heard about Jesus won't have you know some of them will reject the message the gospel wasn't presented in that commercial at all that Jesus died for their sins maybe it should have

[47:33] I don't know if it would have made it through the NFL advertising gatekeepers if it would have we all need to make Jesus famous and let people decide for themselves what are they going to do with him what are they going to do with him let's finish with a word of prayer and then we'll have our little business meeting father I ask you to work in us we want to be like you it's not always easy you came down to earth from a position of dignity power and authority glory in heaven and you became as a little baby as a man humbled yourself all for the purpose of laying down your life dying on a cruel cross that we might be saved that we might have eternal life help us today and tomorrow and the next day to live like you to live with that same humility of heart to lead whenever we're in a position of leadership with that same heart for others we need your help to do that and we ask for it in Jesus name amen