Sermons

Introduction

Let's pray together; and as we thank the Lord for His faithfulness these seven years we'll turn our attention toward Luke chapter 9.

[Prayer] Lord we do thank You for Your goodness to this congregation. We thank You, Lord, for the way that You have carried them from day one until today, and we trust every passing day that would come as well. We ask You now, Lord, to help us as we open up our Bibles to hear from You. We ask You to teach us, to encourage us, and to help us. We thank You for the gift of Your word and the gift of gathering with Your people on this Lord's Day. It's in the name of Your Son, who is our Savior, we pray. Amen. [End]

Well, it's about the most predictable thing in the world. You've just studied it the last few weeks – mountaintop experiences, transfiguration, one of the absolute most important high points of the entire New Testament. And as they come down the mountain from the Mount of Transfiguration, what awaits them? Conflict. That's real life, isn't it? They have been on the mountaintop, literally and metaphorically. And they come down off the mountaintop, and the desire from the apostle is, "Can't we just stay here?" And the answer is, "No, we've got to go back to real life." You don't live on the mountaintop.

The mountaintop showed them a preview of the coming kingdom, of the glory that is to be revealed, but you descend down the mountain and you enter back into real life. And as they come back into real life, what awaits them, of course, as you've studied, is conflict. It was waiting on them. Maybe you can relate to that.

We've had a Christmas celebration, my absolute favorite time of the year. I live for it all year-round. For most of us, Christmas is a time of celebration, a time of family, a time of being with people that you love, and for many, a chance to be off of work and out of school and to get a bit of a rest and a break, and then, just like happens every year, back to the real world. Decorations come down, house is kind of plain, neighborhoods are kind of dark, and you go right back to school, right back to the office, and you maybe think, "Can't we just stay here in the mountaintop and not go to school and not go to work and just keep getting paid and buying gifts and receiving gifts?" and you have to go back to real life.

And as they have come back to real life, as you've been studying, the conflict is there that awaits them. And that leads us to where we'll pick up today in the end of verse 43 to verse 50. And in these short paragraphs that at first reading may even feel a bit disjointed, when we take them together, I think what emerges is a picture of what is happening as the Holy Spirit inspires this text, and it is that we are to learn humility.

But, admittedly, humility is learned the hard way. Is that true for you? That's true for me. I wish that it weren't. But humility is learned the hard way. And as we look at this text, we're going to see several snapshots that point us toward the greatness of Christ, our own deficiency, and our absolute need for Him.

Luke 9, we'll pick up verse 43: "But while they were all marveling at everything He was doing, Jesus said to His disciples, 'Let these words sink into your ears: The Son of Man is about to be delivered into the hands of men.' But they did not understand this saying, and it was concealed from them, so that they might not perceive it. And they were afraid to ask Him about this saying.

"An argument arose among them as to which of them was the greatest. But Jesus, knowing the reasoning of their hearts, took a child and put him by His side and said to them, 'Whoever receives this child in My name receives Me, and whoever receives Me receives Him who sent Me. For he who is least among you all is the one who is great.' John answered, 'Master, we saw someone casting out demons in Your name, and we tried to stop him, because he does not follow with us.' But Jesus said to him, 'Do not stop him, for the one who is not against you is for you.'"

Purposeful Deliverance

I want to give you a few headings to try to help take these strands and I hope show the connectivity between them and what it means for us to more accurately understand Christ so that we can more clearly see our own need. Number one, write down, "purposeful deliverance, purposeful deliverance." We see this in verses 43 to – or I'm sorry, we pick up again in verses 43 to 45, Jesus speaks of His deliverance. He's going to be delivered over, but it's a very purposeful deliverance that will take place.

He says, "The Son of Man is about to be delivered into the hands of men." Now, if we pull back just a little bit, let's ask ourselves, "Who delivered Jesus over to death?" If we're familiar with the story of Jesus' arrest and His trials and all that He went through, you might say, "Well, Judas delivered Jesus over," and that would in part be true. They're in the upper room, Judas leaves and he goes to carry out his act of betrayal. Jesus and the other eleven cross the valley, go up to the garden of Gethsemane, and here comes the arresting mob, Judas with the mob, and he goes and gives Jesus a kiss to signify who He was so that he could deliver Him over to be arrested. In one sense, Judas delivers Jesus over.

Or, if you know the story, you might say, "Well, it's the Sanhedrin who delivered Jesus over," and that would be partly true. Jesus is arrested. He goes through six trials. The first three trials are Jewish religious trials. The second set of three will be Roman political trials. And the Jewish people cannot put Jesus to death, they have to have Rome's permission, and so the Sanhedrin is going to have to break their own law repeatedly to get Jesus convicted and take Him over to the Roman authorities to be executed; and you could say it's the Sanhedrin who delivered Jesus over, and that would be partly true.

Or, you could say it was Pilate who delivered Jesus. After all, Pilate's the one who orchestrates trial number four and trial number six; and ultimately, Pilate's the one who declares, "Ibis ad crucem, to the cross you shall go." And yet, as you keep zooming out, ultimately it's not Judas, not ultimately. It's not the Sanhedra, not ultimately. And it's not even Pilate ultimately. Remember Jesus in front of Pilate says, "You have no authority unless it's granted to you by My Father."

Who was it that delivered Jesus over for death? Well, the Bible tells us. In fact, you might make a note, Acts 2:22-24 gives us the biblical commentary on the very verses we just read, and it says, "Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through Him in your midst, as you yourselves know—this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men." Isaiah 53:10 says, "It was the will of the Lord to crush Him." Jesus speaks here of a purposeful deliverance: "I'm going to be delivered over. I'm going to be given over to the hands of lawless men. What happens on the cross is not going to be an accident nor a defeat, it's going to be the triumph of God's grace."

Now, that's critically important that we understand that, because when you look at the cross in real time, it looks like anything but a triumph. It looks like devastation. It looks like evil has won. It looks like the plan and the purposes of God has been shattered. But the truth is that what felt like devastation in the moment is actually the power and grace of God at work.

Now, I want you to know that because there will be moments in your life that in the moment you're going to feel crushed and defeated, and you're even going to wonder, "God, are you here?" And I want you to be reminded that our God does what He does with purpose and with good design that radiates His glory and brings forth your good. Jesus tells His disciples that there is a purposeful deliverance that is about to take place.

Now, go back to the text here, and it says that, verse 45, "They did not understand this saying, it was concealed from them, that they may not perceive it. And they were afraid to ask Him about this." Mark 9 adds that He was saying, "The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill Him; and when He is killed, after three days, He will rise." They're hearing the whole story of the gospel. Jesus is going to be delivered over not because He has lost but because grace will triumph. Matthew 17 adds that they were distressed by this conversation, but here's what we know: Jesus was delivered to die, and because He was, we can be delivered from sin. Praise the Lord for the glory of the gospel.

Pointless Debate

But right after Jesus speaks of this, He tells them He's going to be delivered. He tells them, according to Mark 9's recording of this, He's going to be killed and He's going to rise after three days. Right after this purposeful deliverance comes a second thing that Luke tells us, and that is "there's a pointless debate." It's very interesting how this happens. This very pointless debate breaks out.

Now, I've got a bit of a strange habit. I love watching videos of old presidential and vice presidential debates. If I can't sleep at night or sometimes I stay up too late because I'm just in my home office, and I'll go on YouTube. And as far back as presidential and vice presidential debates go back that were on television, I've seen them all, and I watch them over and over and over. I love these debates. I love seeing how these candidates think and sometimes don't think and how they express themselves, sometimes well, sometimes poorly, and how they're advocating for their positions. I love that. And I know it's a bit of a strange habit, I can tell by your looks. Not many of you want to join me tomorrow night in my watching of debates. That's all right.

But I will tell you, I've seen a lot of debates, but the most pointless debate in human history did not take place on a political stage. The most pointless debate in human history breaks out here in the streets in first century. Look at verse 46: "An argument arose among them as to which of them was the greatest." And you think, "Did we just skip a verse?" Jesus says, "I'm going to be delivered over to die." Okay, next conversation: "Which of us do you think is the best around here?" How does that happen? How do you go from Jesus talking about the cross, His deliverance, He's going to be killed, He's going to die, He's going to rise again, and the next thing on the mind of the apostles is debating which of them is the greatest?

Humility is hard to come by, isn't it? How could these men even have in their thoughts the coming death of Jesus and their minds then be so consumed with themselves? I'd throw stones at them except I'm all too guilty of that myself. I suppose you know what it's like too to read your Bible or pray or go to worship and be consumed with yourself, to go to worship but be angry that you didn't get the parking place you wanted, to go to church and to worship but be frustrated because you didn't like the song that was sung, or the way somebody looked at you, or somebody didn't talk to you, or read your Bible and then go to work and then be so upset about the promotion someone else got. You say, "How can these apostles have in their minds the thoughts of the cross and yet be consumed with themselves?" I think the truth is we understand that far more than we wish that we did.

But you know the word that's interesting to me in verse 46? It's the word "argument." "An argument arose among them." It's a debate. It's back and forth. And the reason that's interesting to me is the only reason it's an argument is if more than one person thinks it. If one person says, "I think I'm better than you guys," well, there's no discussion. But when somebody else says, "Now wait a minute, what makes you think you're the best among us? Do you know what I've done? Don't you know how smart I am? Don't you know?" And pretty soon the argument erupts because this apparently is a position held by more than one of them.

Now, Mark adds a little bit of context in verse 33 of chapter 9. It says Jesus asked them, "What are you discussing?" He knows, of course. "What are you discussing?" And it says, "They kept silent." I'll bet they did. Jesus has just said, "I'm going to be delivered over, I'm going to die, I'm going to rise again," and then just a few steps later, here's this commotion, "What are you guys talking about?" and they don't want to say because they're a bit embarrassed about the topic of their debate. It is the most pointless debate in history. They are arguing over which of them is the greatest.

Humility is hard to come by. This isn't just one of them that felt this way. It's an argument because they are digging in their heels for their own position. Humility is hard because pride is always lurking, and pride can rear its head in so many different ways. Sometimes pride is demanding your own way. Sometimes pride is trying to tear others down. Sometimes pride is trying to force yourself in the spotlight. Sometimes pride is thinking that you should be exempt from earthly trials and pain. These disciples who have just heard Jesus talk about the greatest news the universe will ever hear that Jesus Christ will die for sinners, right on the heels of that join in an argument over which of them is the greatest.

Now, when you and I read this, we want to look at them and say, "What's wrong with you men? How do you get so easily distracted?" But I suppose the truth is we know the answer to that because it happens to all of us, doesn't it? We get so easily distracted from what matters the most. We get so worried and upset about things that are so trivial.

Now, that can happen with individuals. That can happen with churches. Churches can get very envious of other churches or can debate and argue over which of them is the greatest. And when you have two pastors or two members of different churches or two ministries and they get in this back and forth over which of them is the greatest or which church is better, you just want to say, "Don't you understand, you're all supposed to be glorifying the name of Jesus. It's not about your name, it's about the name of Christ."

But, brothers and sisters, the same is true for your life individually. Your life exists to glorify Christ. And when pride steps in the way, we forget that and we get so consumed with worldly things because we forget and lose sight of the reality that everything about us is to magnify Jesus. We're not here to magnify ourselves. If our life has some pain but it brings glory to Christ, rejoice in that. If you go through struggles and sorrow but ultimately the grace of Jesus is magnified, then count yourself worthy to have suffered for the name of Christ. But what we so often do, the very thing these apostles are doing, and instead of being focused on what matters most, we get focused on ourself, and we get focused on ourselves. The things we talk about become utter folly.

Perceptive Display

Jesus speaks of purposeful deliverance. Their response is a pointless debate. And in verse 47 and 48, we see a very perceptive display. I want you to notice what Jesus does. This is a brilliant thing. Look at the perceptive display that Jesus makes. "Jesus, knowing the reasoning of their hearts, took a child and put him by His side, and He said to them, 'Whoever receives this child in My name receives me, and whoever receives Me receives Him who sent Me. For he who is least among you all is the one who is great."

Let me tell you why this is so perceptive. Mark tells us, as I mentioned a moment ago, that Jesus says to them, "What are you arguing about?" and they kept silent. They were embarrassed. They didn't want to say, "Well actually, we couldn't wait for You to get finished talking about the cross so we could finish our conversation of which of us is the best of all." They kept silent.

Yet Jesus, knowing exactly what was in their hearts and exactly what words had been in their mouth, is going to teach them a lesson about greatness. At the end of verse 47, He says, "He who is least among you all is the one who is great." He settles their debate without them even telling Him what they're discussing. Jesus says a true leader as a servant to all. It's a stinging rebuke to what they were discussing. And the only way you will ever serve someone else is if you have a proper view of God, because if you don't have a proper view of God, here's what people do, even religious people. We all do this if we don't have a proper view of God.

What we will do is we will size each other up. People meet, they talk, "Where do you work? How many kids do you have? What kind of income do you have? What kind of car do you drive? What's your address?" and we're trying to kind of size people up and we're trying to kind of figure out, "Are we equal? Are you above me? Are you too good for me? Am I above you? Should I not be talking to you?" And we don't say those things out loud, we just use our conversation to kind of figure out, "Where are we? Are we equals?" and, "How do we stack up?" And inevitably, what we will do when we think that way is if we think someone is above us, then we'll feel grateful to be around them and may even gladly serve them in some way.

But if we size somebody else up and conclude that they are somehow beneath us or not as good as we are, we're not about to serve them because they are below us. Happens all the time. Instead, what we must do is have a proper view of God and see Him for as holy as He is and recognize that all of us are sinners and the debate about which of us is better than the other is so pointless. We're all sinners, all deserving of judgment. And as Christians have been saved by God's grace, and we should be a servant to all. That's precisely what this text is teaching us. In fact, in Mark 9, it records that Jesus also says this on this occasion: "If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and a servant to all."

My wife and I are big Oklahoma City Thunder fans. NBA team is about 15 minutes from our house. Big game this afternoon, Thunder playing the Boston Celtics. We've got a 14-game win streak. And perhaps after the service, we might break into a discussion here among us, "Which of us is the greatest basketball player here?" What a pointless discussion. I don't know who the best basketball player is here, but really, who cares? If you're any good, you'd have a game to play today. The fact that you're here to hear that discussion lets me know you ain't that good. If you want to see good athletes, turn on the Thunder at 2:30.

When you don't understand what true greatness is, you'll always think too much of yourself. And Jesus says, "If you want to be great, be a servant." Well, these disciples were just arguing about which of them were the greatest, and they weren't thinking at all about serving each other, they were thinking about competing with each other. And so Jesus perceptively is going to rebuke them.

Here's how He does it. "He takes a child" – verse 47 – "and brings him by His side, and then He said to them, 'Whoever receives this child in My name receives Me, and whoever receives Me receives Him who sent Me. For he who is least among you all is the one who is great," teaching us that real leadership is understanding that all of us are made in the image of God, and we seek to display our love for God by serving each other. True greatness is found in serving others. So Jesus takes a child.

Now again, at first, this may feel a bit disjointed. Why this story about the child right in the midst of this prophecy of His coming death, right in the midst of this argument about which of them is the greatest? And here's the reason. In that culture, children had no power. They had no status. They had no rights. Even sadly, at times, children were seen as insignificant.

It's a different world than the world we live in today. You go to the grocery store today and you see a three-year-old commanding the mom what to do. And if the child's unhappy, "Can I get you something? Can I give you a candy bar? Can I give you a Coke? Can I give you two candy bars? Do you want to go get a toy?" And you just sit back and say, "What's going on? Who's in charge here?"

But in that culture, that's not the way it worked. Children had no status, no power. The world didn't revolve around the children, they weren't catered to. And so Jesus picks up this child as an example of saying, "If you want to be great, serve someone who has no expectation and serve someone who can't repay you." He says, "If you receive one such as this, it's a receiving to welcome into your family." If you relate to children in an honorable way, children picturing here indicative of those who are lowly or those who are outcast, those who are overlooked, if you would love those who are overlooked, He says, "Now you're learning about true greatness."

In other words, if you only serve someone to get something back, or if you only build relationships with someone because you think there's something in exchange for you, if you only give the gift to somebody because you think they'll give you one in return, then all you're doing is making business decisions. But if you want to be great, Jesus says be a servant to people who can't pay you back, to people who can't make it worth your time in a monetary sense. He's teaching us that we are to care for people not because of their rank and not because of their status and not because of what we can get in return, but because we recognize all people are made in the image of God.

Church, that's got to be true in this place, doesn't it? We've got to love each other and care for each other and serve each other, not based on, "Do they dress like me?" or, "Do we have our hobbies in common?" Not based on, "Is there something they can do for me?" But we look around the room every Sunday and we say, "You know what? God is perfect and holy. All of us are sinners. All of us are people in need of grace, and every person in this sanctuary is made in the image of God, and because God is holy and He is worthy, we want to serve His people."

What Jesus is doing is He's teaching His disciples here about humility, humility that is so necessary, because even in the face of Jesus talking about the cross, their minds stay on themselves. And Jesus picks up a child and says, "Love this child." And from an earthly perspective, why would you love the child? The child can't do anything for you. The child can't help you. The child can't give anything back to you. And children in that culture have a very different status than what we're used to. "What is in it for me to serve this child?" And the answer is, "The magnification of the glory of God."

And the question becomes, "Is magnifying the glory of God sufficient joy for you if that's all that's in it for you?" And if the answer to that question is not a resounding, "Yes," then we need to recognize what we are engaged in is not worship, but a stab at divine manipulation. If the answer is not we exist for the glory of God, and You use our life, use our church however You want to, and no matter how great or painful, if Christ in the end is glorified, that's enough for us. If that's not how we answer the question, then all we're going to do is say, "I want to try to manipulate or bargain with God to try to get Him to do something for me. So I'll serve somebody as long as I think there's something else in it for me." And when that's the case, all that reveals is that the idol in our heart is ourself, not our Savior; and it can be so subtle.

So, the smallest task that you do for the glory of God is worth it. The ministry you do that nobody sees is worth it. The sacrifices you make that never gets applauded, that never gets recognized, it's all right because the aim of our life is the glory of Christ, not ourselves. And we know that every sacrifice done for His glory in the end will be rewarded in heaven with eternal pleasures forevermore. We don't have to get everything this earth has to offer right now. It's all right, we're not living for this life. Here we have no lasting city, Hebrews 13 says, but we seek the city which is to come.

Precise Distinction

That leads us to a fourth thing that Jesus does here, that "He's going to show a precise distinction," in verses 49 and 50, "a very precise distinction." Look at verse 49: "John answered, 'Master, we saw someone casting out demons in Your name, and we tried to stop him because he does not follow with us.'" And again, we kind of looked up and we say, "Did we miss something? I don't understand what's going on here." Jesus talks about being delivered over, and then it's an argument about who's the greatest. And then Jesus pulls a child and talks about serving those who can't help themselves, and now we get this conversation about demons and people cast them out. But let me show you how this all connects here.

There's Jewish men who were involved in exorcisms. And here the apostles encounter a man who is casting out demons. The inference from the text in the various gospels is the man was doing this in a legitimate way. I take him to be a legitimate follower of Christ. There are some who conjecture about who this man might be, that's pretty interesting, but we can't say for sure.

So, what do the apostles do? Well, they try to stop him. They didn't want him doing it. And why do they want to stop him? Because he's not in their group. He said, "We tried to stop him because he does not follow with us. He's not one of us. He's not in our group here of disciples."

Now, the question is, "Was their motive right but their method wrong?" or, was their motive and method both wrong?" It's hard to say. We can't know for sure. On the one hand, I kind of understand where John's coming from, because if you're traveling with Jesus, you don't want these men going rogue, so to speak, and doing things that, in the name of Jesus, that aren't legitimate or aren't right, I understand that. At the same time, this is the very same group of guys who just got in an argument about which of them was the greatest. So it's kind of hard to know where their motive exactly was.

And what Jesus says is very interesting, verse 50: "Do not stop him, for the one who is not against you is for you." Jesus' own response seems to indicate this man is doing legitimate work, doing legitimate ministry. And Jesus reminds them that it's not an issue of, "Are you one of us?" but, "Are you one of His?" That's the issue. It's not so much, "Aare you in our group?" the question is, "Do you belong to Christ?"

And even just the reading of that verse, you might think to yourself that I read that backwards, "For the one who is not against you is for you," because we are familiar with what's to come in Luke 11, "Whoever's not with me is against me." But here in Luke 9, it's the opposite of the same coin, "The one who's not against you is for you."

Well, what's the point? Well, the point is there's no neutrality with Jesus. There's no middle ground. You're either His or you're not. And what Jesus is teaching the disciples here is that there are people who are true believers who really follow the Lord but they're not part of that group. And we've got to remind ourselves that it's not just about our address.

I love the local church I pastor. My wife and I have given 24 years of our life to First Baptist Mustang. We love that church with all of our heart. We love the people with all of our heart. We raised our sons there, and we go to church there each Sunday. Our sons are there, our daughters-in-laws are there, our grandbabies are there. We love that church. We love the people that are there. I love the men and women I serve with there. We love our congregation dearly.

But it's not just about that address, because God is doing great work all over. And as much as I love our local church, it would be sinful for me to think that if you're not in our church, or you don't do exactly what we do, or you don't think exactly like we think, or your service doesn't look just like our service, that you're outside. And Jesus is teaching us here that it's not a question of, "Are you one of us?" it's, "Are you one of His?"

Now, we want to hold with great conviction the truths that we believe. But let's never forget that the local church I serve in is not the sum of all that God is doing on the earth. And this local church here, good as God has been these seven years, this is not the only church God is being faithful to. And let's remind ourself it's not about being one of us, it's about being one of His, and there is a humility that we must extend to other people recognizing that there are those who truly belong to Christ who may not be exactly like us. It's okay. The issue is not, "Are you like us?" the issue is, "Do you love Christ?"

Conclusion

Now, let's be clear about a few things here as we close. This is not saying that everybody who claims to be a follower of Christ really is. We know better. Matthew 7 makes very clear that not everyone who claims the name of Christ is truly a Christian. This text is not saying that we're not to call out false teachers and false doctrine. There are those who are wolves in sheep's clothing. There are those who call themselves pastors who aren't, those who call themselves churches who aren't, and we've got to be clear when there is error. This passage is teaching us though that we all need to be open to correction.

I mean, think about who this is in verse 48 asking the question – in verse 49. It's a question coming from John – John who's going to be used by the Holy Spirit to write five books of the New Testament – and he needed to be corrected. If that's true, I'm quite confident it's true for me, and for each of you. Let us approach the Scripture with great humility recognizing no matter your title, no matter your education, no matter your longevity in ministry, all of us need to be corrected. None of us have arrived.

Let me say also to be careful about looking for reasons to exclude people. Yes, there's times where we have to separate from people. There's times we have to separate from ministries, church discipline, and even just interpersonal wisdom of saying there are some authors, some teachers, some preachers that because of their doctrine, you just shouldn't listen to; that's true. There are times where someone in the church may hold to a heretical viewpoint, and that's got to be dealt with; that's absolutely true. But what I am saying is let's not look for reasons to separate from people. Let's not look for reasons to assume the worst in somebody. Let's be patient. Let's be gracious.

John is quick to assume the worst about what this person is doing, and Jesus says, "You don't need to do that. He may not be one of you, but if he's one of Mine, that's all that matters." And let's understand that all of us need to grow in humility, because in the end we want our ministries to be much more about Jesus and much less about ourselves.

My wife and I had the chance to share, had a great dinner and great conversation with Tim and Shelly last night in talking about the church and talking about life and family, had just a wonderful time to catch up and to talk. And at the very end of that conversation we were getting ready to leave, and I said, "You know, if I die in my sleep tonight, someone's preaching tomorrow at Trinity Bible Church." And I've got to remind myself of that, because those whose life is lived in front of people, you'd better be careful to understand, we're pretty replaceable.

I've been in my church 24 years. If I don't live through this week, you know the songs they're singing at my funeral, we sang them today. I hope a few people show up and come, and maybe even somebody will say I was a nice guy. But if I don't make it through this week, that church I serve, they're going to have another man of God sitting in front of the pulpit, open a Bible and teach them next Sunday like they always have, and they're not closing the doors down. The ministry goes on, because no matter how much I try to serve faithfully, no matter how many years I've poured into this, that church is not about me. And I need to be reminded of that. And each of us need to be reminded that our life and our ministry and every church is not about our name, it's about the name of Christ.

But that's true for your own heart as well. And if your life doesn't go the way that you thought that it would, and if you don't reach the goals and dreams that you set out for yourself, and maybe at age 25 you thought you'd be married by now, or by 35 you thought you'd have children by now, or at 65 you thought you'd be retired by now, or by 70 you thought you'd have grandkids by now – maybe things have not turned out the way that you map them out. I'll just remind you, even your own life is not about your name or your dreams. When you were bought with the price by the precious blood of Jesus, that all changed. It's about His name. Amen? It's about His glory. It's about His purpose. And sometimes, sometimes we can be so hard-headed that it's as if Jesus just talked about the cross and we argue about which of us is the greatest: "God, you saved my soul. You forgave me of my sin. But what about this?" We can so quickly, so quickly get lost in worldly things.

So, let me just remind you, we need to pray for humility. Humility in light of the cross and our need for forgiveness, humility in the light of the reality of our ongoing sins, humility in the light of the reality of our ongoing sins, humility in the fact that we can sometimes seek to exclude others and promote ourselves, humility in the light of the fact that we can sometimes so willingly put other people down, and seek humility in light of the truth that it's only the name of Jesus that ultimately matters. It's His name.

When we serve others, we magnify Christ. And should you be here this morning, and to this point, you've seen religion or you've seen Christianity as just something else to add to your life, can I help you to understand that Christianity is not something you add to your life; Christianity is the ending of your life to take up a new life, a life lived for His glory, a life lived serving His people for the sake of His name. I pray that it'll always be true of us, true of this church, until the Lord returns, that where He is, we'll be with Him.

[Prayer] Lord, we thank You for Your word today and pray that Your Spirit would use it to bring clarity and conviction to our hearts. Lord, we too can be so prone to distraction. We pray that today would bring clarity. We thank You for the seven years that this church has been alight in this city and pray for many more years to come as well. For every day of victory, and even for days of grieving, for ministry that has gone well and for challenges that remain, we give You the glory for all of it, knowing it's not about the name of ourself or even the name of our local congregations. The name of Your Son the Lord Jesus, that deserves to be magnified. May that be true corporately and individually. Thank You for putting Your own Son forth as a propitiation for our sin, that we who are so deserving of judgment instead would find amazing grace that would save even a wretch like ourself. We give You praise for the cross and the glory of Your grace, in Jesus' name. Amen. [End]