back to index2022-07-17 God's Perfect Plan Through Humble Means
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If you can turn your Bibles to Luke chapter 2, I'll be reading from verse 1 through 7. 00:00:14.880 |
What we're really looking at all the way up to verse 20. 00:00:19.560 |
I'm just going to ask for your understanding because I have candy in my mouth. 00:00:26.440 |
I have a cough drop in my mouth and I've had this lingering cough and I know some people 00:00:31.200 |
were like, "Is that guy going to spread COVID?" 00:00:35.080 |
I had this even before, in a lighter version, before I went to India and Korea. 00:00:42.480 |
So I don't want to be coughing throughout the sermon, so I'm just going to have the 00:00:47.880 |
I was telling my family that I think it's because of the cats, but they refused to accept 00:00:55.980 |
So I'm going to be having a cat because I just don't want to cough. 00:00:58.920 |
If you can turn to Luke chapter 2, 1 through 7, let me read that and we'll jump in. 00:01:02.840 |
"Now in the days, a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that a census be taken of 00:01:12.720 |
This was the first census taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria. 00:01:17.640 |
And everyone was on his way to register for the census, each to his own city. 00:01:22.200 |
Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the city of Nazareth to Judea, to the city of 00:01:26.280 |
David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house of family of David, in 00:01:32.000 |
order to register along with Mary, who was engaged to him and was with child. 00:01:36.520 |
While they were there, the days were completed for her to give birth. 00:01:41.160 |
And she gave birth to her firstborn son, and she wrapped him in cloths and laid him in 00:01:46.480 |
a manger because there was no room for them in the inn." 00:01:52.720 |
Gracious and loving Father, open our eyes, soften our hearts. 00:01:57.020 |
Help us to receive your word as you have intended it. 00:02:00.140 |
Help us not to turn from it to the left or to the right. 00:02:03.000 |
Help us not to take away from it or to add to it. 00:02:05.600 |
May your word that you have ordained come forth and not return until it has accomplished 00:02:17.000 |
You know, whenever I go to DMV or, you know, where I have to tell them my name and they 00:02:23.160 |
have to look up my name, usually I go through this cycle of, you know, they ask me what 00:02:27.680 |
my name is, I say I'm Peter Kim, and then they type it up in their database, and they 00:02:32.000 |
say, "Well, there's 3,000 Peter Kims in here. 00:02:37.360 |
And then they'll say, "Well, there's 30 Peter Ho Kims in here, so which Peter Ho Kim are 00:02:42.600 |
So eventually I have to go and give them my address and give them more information in 00:02:46.280 |
order for them to identify and to say, "Is this you?" 00:02:49.840 |
Well, I had a whole different version of that when I was in India because I was getting 00:02:53.880 |
COVID tested in order to get into Korea, and they asked me what my name was and say, "Peter 00:02:58.560 |
Kim," but their database is an international database, not Orange County. 00:03:02.920 |
And then they looked it up and they said, "It looks like there's over 30,000 of you 00:03:10.240 |
So I had to, you know, nail it down to the United States or Orange County, and then I 00:03:13.640 |
actually had to give them my address and my passport number and say, "Is this you?" 00:03:17.600 |
And I had to go through this, you know, to find out exactly who I am. 00:03:21.240 |
So obviously in that context, I need to be able to identify who I am so that they can 00:03:25.160 |
put it on their database so when I go into different countries, they can say, "Oh, he's 00:03:31.000 |
You know, what's interesting is as we try to identify ourselves, maybe your name is 00:03:38.520 |
You know, I, you know, Kim is a very common name in Korea. 00:03:42.320 |
So typically when you meet another Kim in Korea, they'll ask you, "What kind of Kim 00:03:50.240 |
So our, my Korean, my family's name is Gyeongju Kim. 00:03:57.560 |
And so that's kind of how we, so it kind of tells you the clan, right? 00:04:01.480 |
But what's interesting is whenever I talk to a Lee, Park, you know, Choi, or whatever 00:04:05.000 |
their last name is, and it kind of ties us to our ancestry, most people will add on top 00:04:10.400 |
of that, it's like, "Oh yeah, our great-great-great-great-grandfather was the last king of Korea." 00:04:16.960 |
I've never heard a descendant from peasants, ever. 00:04:21.920 |
No matter what country you're from, somewhere in the line, somebody is a king. 00:04:26.440 |
You know, I've never heard somebody say, "Yo, I'm a Kim. 00:04:28.920 |
Yeah, my dad used to take care of cows," you know what I mean? 00:04:32.720 |
Or "My great-great-grandfather was a servant of this great king." 00:04:35.880 |
So almost everybody has descendants coming from a king somewhere. 00:04:42.560 |
Somewhere down the line, somebody added, you know, or misinformation, and they just kind 00:04:47.100 |
of came in, because that's what you want to embrace. 00:04:49.600 |
I mean, whether that's true or not, all it does is add a sense of pride, because, you 00:04:55.080 |
know, at somewhere, maybe our present circumstance is humble, but at some point in our line, 00:04:59.440 |
at somewhere way up in the line, we had somebody very important in our family. 00:05:05.840 |
Whether that's true or not, it's really not that important. 00:05:09.440 |
But the identity of Christ is absolutely crucial to identify that Jesus is the fulfillment 00:05:16.220 |
of the prophecies that's been given for thousands of years. 00:05:20.520 |
In fact, the Bible has over 25 separate genealogies that are mentioned. 00:05:26.000 |
And most people, when they run to study the Bible, they don't go to the genealogies, right? 00:05:31.040 |
Even those of you who are studious, genealogies are usually something that you just kind of 00:05:36.120 |
You recognize a few names, and then you go back. 00:05:38.560 |
But there's a reason why there are so many genealogies in the Bible, because the genealogies 00:05:43.280 |
are record of God fulfilling His promise all the way from the fall, when He says the seed 00:05:49.360 |
of the woman is going to come and crush the head of the serpent. 00:05:52.560 |
All the genealogies are a record of God's faithfulness, fulfilling His promise from 00:06:00.400 |
You know what's also interesting is when we read this text, typically this is where we 00:06:07.480 |
land on Christmas and we hear about Jesus' story. 00:06:12.120 |
But when we read this in our modern day, we look at it and say, "Oh, it's a story about 00:06:19.020 |
But imagine if you are an individual, Christian or non-Christian, and you're reading this 00:06:22.920 |
for the first time, the person that is highlighted here is Caesar Augustus. 00:06:28.480 |
This is the Caesar of Rome, the greatest, powerful empire of that time. 00:06:33.220 |
And so naturally you would gravitate towards Caesar Augustus. 00:06:36.000 |
In fact, Caesar Augustus is not a name, it's a title. 00:06:39.340 |
Caesar is basically the emperor of Rome and Augustus until this man was never even used 00:06:47.200 |
Augustus basically means honored or exalted one. 00:06:50.000 |
So because he was so popular for the first time, they actually attributed that to a human 00:06:55.280 |
And so if you were reading this in the first century, it's like, "Caesar Augustus? 00:07:02.000 |
But now we look at it and Caesar Augustus is actually just a side comment. 00:07:05.800 |
In fact, the rest of this morning I'm not even going to mention him because it just 00:07:10.720 |
happens that God used him to fulfill what he was doing. 00:07:14.240 |
But the highlight of this whole story is about this child who comes from no significant background, 00:07:23.040 |
born of a young teenage girl in a manger with shepherds as a witness. 00:07:28.080 |
Would have been insignificant compared to this man, but now 2,000 years later, knowing 00:07:32.600 |
who he is, he's the central figure of this story. 00:07:37.280 |
There's a reason for that because all of this is a fulfillment and is a record of God's 00:07:45.960 |
That Jesus is the fulfillment of the promise. 00:07:47.680 |
In Micah chapter 5, it says, "But as for you, Bethlehem Ephraith, too little to be 00:07:54.840 |
From you one will go forth from me to be ruler in Israel. 00:07:59.120 |
His goings forth are from long ago, from the days of eternity." 00:08:02.600 |
In other words, this fulfillment of this prophecy is not a random set of events. 00:08:09.680 |
The genealogical records are not random set of events. 00:08:14.960 |
In fact, if you remember in the previous, it talked about this fulfillment of the son 00:08:26.240 |
He's not just a fulfillment of the King Leland, which clearly he is because Bethlehem basically 00:08:31.220 |
means city of David, and he's going back to have a concrete record that this is who he 00:08:39.020 |
But more than that, if you remember the prophecy, he says he's not just a human king. 00:08:46.620 |
He's the son of the most high God, and he's going to be the eternal ruler and establish 00:08:54.180 |
So if you understood and you heard that prophecy, what do you think would have been the next 00:09:05.500 |
Maybe the kings of Rome or at least in Israel, they would have prepared and you would have 00:09:10.900 |
thought that there were going to be a gigantic crowd to receive them. 00:09:15.340 |
Instead, there's this chaotic scene of a non-month pregnant child who's moving around, not knowing 00:09:28.020 |
The storyline is pretty clear what Luke is trying to convey. 00:09:31.660 |
Luke is not just gathering random facts and just putting it together and Theophilus hears 00:09:36.820 |
There's a point that Luke is trying to make, and it's pretty clear that God's perfect plan 00:09:45.700 |
God's perfect plan is unfolding through humble means. 00:09:50.040 |
You would expect something spectacular is happening, but this is consistent with what 00:09:54.780 |
Remember, he said the son of God is coming, and then prophecy comes to Zacharias and Elizabeth 00:10:01.360 |
This is an old couple, beyond years of being able to bear children, and God blesses them 00:10:09.300 |
Now we talked about that last few Sundays, that in this particular time to not be able 00:10:15.360 |
to have children was considered possibly a curse from God, even though it had nothing 00:10:20.620 |
God prepared them for this blessing, but the nation of Israel kind of whispered from the 00:10:25.420 |
background that they must have done something wrong, kind of like Job's friends. 00:10:29.060 |
When he was suffering, they were kind of telling him, "You must have done something wrong." 00:10:34.980 |
It was to this humbled old couple that this prophecy comes. 00:10:40.380 |
In fact, in Mary's song, her whole song is, "The reason God chose me," she says, "is because 00:10:48.380 |
And then the rest of the prophecy basically, or the Psalms, goes, "God, how he humbled 00:10:53.140 |
the proud, the kingdoms, and he raises up those who are humble." 00:10:59.300 |
In fact, John the Baptist, where we left off, right? 00:11:03.220 |
Jesus calls him the greatest of all those who were born of a woman until the time of 00:11:13.100 |
After the prophecy, how he's going to go ahead and prepare the way for the Messiah and the 00:11:16.380 |
king, he basically goes out into the desert, most of his life, probably loses his aged 00:11:22.020 |
parents and lived and grew as an orphan out in the desert. 00:11:26.140 |
We don't hear about him until about six months before Jesus shows up. 00:11:30.780 |
And then he goes out preaching and prepare the way of Christ, repent for the kingdom 00:11:35.060 |
And then after Jesus shows up, he lives maybe another six months and then he's beheaded 00:11:40.780 |
So when we talk about John the Baptist being the greatest of all the other prophets, what 00:11:52.140 |
All we know is that short period where he stood before the coming of Christ to point 00:11:58.220 |
And so all we know is his greatness was related to his proximity to Christ and his humility. 00:12:05.820 |
That when Christ came, all he did was say, I must decrease and he must increase. 00:12:12.780 |
And in the same line, as Jesus, the King of kings and Lord of Lord is coming, the story 00:12:18.820 |
of the birth of Christ begins with this edict. 00:12:22.660 |
And can you imagine of that time when it says it's the way it's spelled out, he says all 00:12:27.820 |
of the known earth, obviously under Rome's rule was given an edict to go back to their 00:12:33.780 |
hometown, their ancestor hometown, not that where they grew up, not where they were born, 00:12:40.060 |
Clearly God's hand is in that because there's a clear record of Jesus's heritage that's 00:12:51.260 |
But can you imagine the historical scene of what's going on? 00:12:56.940 |
If I, you know, if there was an edict in our generation and said, you have to go back to 00:13:02.660 |
your ancestor home and to be counted and you have the next three months to do so. 00:13:08.380 |
Can you imagine the chaos that's going to break out? 00:13:11.140 |
Almost every single person in this room, I would say probably every single person in 00:13:13.980 |
this room, and no matter what stage in life you are, right, maybe you're in the middle 00:13:18.420 |
of business, right, or maybe you're waiting for something. 00:13:27.140 |
Everybody has to pack their bags, find tickets, and you got to go back to whatever country, 00:13:31.260 |
whatever place you're in, because I don't think anybody was here in Irvine, right, a 00:13:40.180 |
Everybody just packing their bags and leaving. 00:13:41.940 |
I remember the closest thing to this I experienced when I was in Beijing in 1993 on our first 00:13:52.460 |
It was right at the beginning of the Spring Festival. 00:13:56.160 |
And so those of you guys who know about the Spring Festival, that's like they give you 00:14:01.840 |
And this is a period in 1993 where it wasn't the country it is now, where it's very developed 00:14:07.560 |
and everybody's riding cars, but I would say 90, 95% of Beijing was still riding bicycles. 00:14:13.980 |
And so the only transportation that they had to be able to get somewhere far is to get 00:14:18.380 |
Now, so you have to remember at that time where people lived was basically where the 00:14:24.360 |
So if you were a good student and you graduated and they made you an engineer, they'll say 00:14:28.740 |
there's a company that, you know, run by the state and we need you to live over there. 00:14:32.620 |
So they would sometimes move you hundreds, sometimes thousands of miles away from you. 00:14:37.100 |
And so only during the Spring Festival, if you saved up enough money, you can buy a ticket 00:14:44.260 |
But if you're not able to go back home, basically you have a whole another year you have to 00:14:47.620 |
wait until you can buy the ticket and go home. 00:14:49.660 |
So can you imagine the number of people who are headed toward the train station at the 00:14:55.840 |
We just happened to be traveling right at that time. 00:14:58.900 |
And so when we went to the train station, there were pictures, large cardboard pictures 00:15:11.380 |
It's like, why are they hanging these gruesome pictures at the train station? 00:15:15.180 |
And they said that every year we have so many hundreds and thousands of people who get mangled 00:15:19.320 |
on the train because they are trying so hard to get on the train. 00:15:24.440 |
And so if they can't get on and get regular seats, regular seats mean just even just standing, 00:15:28.940 |
sometimes they would have to go for three, four days. 00:15:31.460 |
But so many people just hanging on from the outside because that's the only way that they 00:15:36.380 |
And as a result of that, many hundreds, hundreds, sometimes thousands of them will be thrown 00:15:42.700 |
So they would put these pictures to scare people that if you try to get on this train, 00:15:48.740 |
Now I know that during this period when the people were moving around, maybe the population 00:15:54.060 |
wasn't as big, but can you imagine the chaos? 00:15:57.540 |
You would expect that after a prophecy of the king, son of the most high God who's 00:16:04.300 |
going to conquer all their enemies and bring about final peace, that you would think that 00:16:10.380 |
there will be something else going on right after. 00:16:18.340 |
Those of you who have children or experienced pregnancy, if she's nine months pregnant, 00:16:28.420 |
You can't even come to the retreat if it's too close to the date, because if it happens, 00:16:35.720 |
But can you imagine being nine months pregnant and she's about to give birth and now they 00:16:39.300 |
got to pack up and travel 80 miles from where they are to move to Bethlehem, just because 00:16:47.900 |
Now 80 miles at that time, just normal healthy adults would take them about five or six days. 00:16:53.960 |
But with her being fully pregnant, and typically when we see Mary traveling, we see her on 00:17:00.220 |
a donkey and Joseph kind of carrying her along. 00:17:03.200 |
That may have been the case, but we know that they weren't rich. 00:17:07.580 |
So the possibility that they may have walked this whole process is probably highly likely. 00:17:12.440 |
That this 13, 14 year old teenage girl with the husband who is, with Joseph, who's only 00:17:19.580 |
a couple of years older, is in the middle of this chaos. 00:17:22.780 |
And imagine, remember, she's holding the King of Israel in her stomach. 00:17:32.860 |
You prophesied that I'm going to give birth to the King of Kings and this is how he's 00:17:42.540 |
In fact, you know what's interesting is most likely they made this journey alone. 00:17:47.820 |
And the reason why I believe that is because in Luke chapter 2, 5, it says, "In order to 00:17:53.140 |
register along with Mary, who was engaged to him and was with child, engaged." 00:17:58.140 |
Remember nine months ago when the prophecy came, how Joseph responded to that? 00:18:03.100 |
That she's not even married with her yet, but during the time of engagement, prophecy 00:18:10.580 |
And so Joseph's response in Matthew 1, 19, it says, "Joseph, her husband, being a righteous 00:18:15.260 |
man and not wanting to disgrace her, planned to send her away secretly." 00:18:23.740 |
Being a righteous man, he could have just blasted it and said, "How could she have done 00:18:30.340 |
To shame her and her family and him go his own way and marry another person. 00:18:34.660 |
But instead the angel comes and reminds him, he's like, "This is not because she was unfaithful." 00:18:41.640 |
God has favored her and this child is a son of God. 00:18:50.000 |
And most likely, my guess is, the people around them did not believe that. 00:18:55.460 |
All they know is that this young girl that was betrothed to Joseph was pregnant. 00:19:01.400 |
And maybe they tried to tell them, but I don't know how many of them would actually believe 00:19:06.160 |
Because even Zacharias and Elizabeth had a hard time believing. 00:19:10.000 |
But my guess is they kind of kept it discreet. 00:19:12.080 |
And it says on this journey, they were still engaged nine months later. 00:19:20.660 |
So this whole journey, being discreet, maybe running away from shame, pointing fingers 00:19:27.200 |
for where they were at, and they're moving along. 00:19:31.920 |
And then finally, when they get to Bethlehem, all these people were traveling back. 00:19:37.280 |
All these people, maybe ancestors come from Bethlehem. 00:19:42.920 |
Because she was pregnant, so it probably took her longer. 00:19:45.240 |
If a normal adult would take five days, my guess is it would have taken her many more 00:19:50.200 |
So by the time they arrive, the inn is completely full. 00:20:01.520 |
The manger basically is where the animals eat their food and drink their water. 00:20:07.400 |
You know, what's interesting was years ago, now we have funds and we're doing all this 00:20:16.760 |
But years ago, when our church didn't have money, we're Baptist, so we need to have a 00:20:25.360 |
So we were researching online, and I was researching, and I found that a lot of the churches who 00:20:32.520 |
It's about 200 gallons, and it's big enough for an average adult can get and dunk. 00:20:38.840 |
So they would take this outside, fill it with water, and then that's where they would do 00:20:44.120 |
So a few churches, not many, found that they were using that because they didn't have money. 00:20:48.200 |
So we were very tempted to get that because we didn't have money. 00:20:53.160 |
And at the end, I decided not to do that because, you know, we're getting baptized and people 00:20:57.240 |
are starting their new life in Christ, and we have guests coming giving their testimony 00:21:00.600 |
and they're going to go into this tin tank where the horses drink their water, you know 00:21:08.200 |
And people are going to come and say, "What is this?" 00:21:10.800 |
So for that purpose, it's kind of humiliating to present this in this tank, and so we decided 00:21:24.120 |
The Son of God that was prophesied, who's going to bring eternal peace. 00:21:41.120 |
In fact, the first group of people that are given to be a testimony of this, it says they 00:21:48.200 |
Now you have to understand the shepherds at that time was a dirty profession. 00:21:56.520 |
Not only because they were around animals all the time, and they were dirty and they 00:21:59.960 |
smelled like animals, the Jews considered them unclean because they were around unclean 00:22:06.000 |
animals all the time, so they said, "Oh, they must also be unclean." 00:22:10.380 |
And so not only were they physically the lowliest, even spiritually, these are people that they 00:22:16.880 |
And Luke emphasizes it was the shepherds that were noted, and then they were the ones to 00:22:23.760 |
come and they were the ones to praise God and they were the first witnesses to tell 00:22:30.440 |
In fact, in the book of Matthew, it says that the Magi's were alerted. 00:22:36.400 |
They saw the prophecy of the star, which represents the King of Israel is going to come. 00:22:42.880 |
And when they found out about this, where did they go? 00:22:47.000 |
Straight to the King, King Herod, and gathered the high priest because they wanted to find 00:23:00.200 |
When the Magi's, these Gentiles, heard about this and this prophecy was going to be fulfilled, 00:23:04.760 |
not knowing what's going to happen, of course they went to the King of Israel and asked, 00:23:09.720 |
this prophecy is being fulfilled, where is this King? 00:23:11.820 |
And obviously King Herod, understanding this, in fear of losing his throne, sends an edict 00:23:20.580 |
And so the Magi's are alerted, don't go back, you may not survive this. 00:23:25.320 |
And then they follow the star that takes them to where Jesus is. 00:23:28.360 |
Can you imagine the shock of the Magi's when they went to the King and are rejected and 00:23:34.680 |
then they actually follow the star to where the real King is and he's in a manger. 00:23:42.080 |
It doesn't record their reaction, but you can imagine what their reaction is. 00:23:56.960 |
Again, it's not recorded their reaction, but all of this is not by accident. 00:24:03.120 |
Luke is not just bringing together just random set of facts, random set of things that took 00:24:07.600 |
place and said, it just happens to be that this is the context in which Jesus came. 00:24:13.000 |
Luke is emphasizing every single part of this for a reason. 00:24:18.000 |
We talked about this last time, that God who is exalted, emptied himself, became nothing 00:24:25.560 |
in order to walk among us so that he can be a sympathetic high priest. 00:24:30.560 |
Every part of the call of Christian life is to empty ourselves, not to become something, 00:24:38.840 |
not to gain notoriety, not to become this great name, but to empty ourselves so that 00:24:44.600 |
Remember in Matthew chapter 8 verse 20, the scribes come to Jesus because he's beginning 00:24:49.800 |
to get fame and people are starting to follow him. 00:24:52.400 |
And the scribes who are very educated, who knew the law more than anybody else, came 00:25:00.480 |
But Jesus knowing exactly where their heart is, says to them, Jesus said to him, the foxes 00:25:06.800 |
have holes, birds of the air have nests, but the son of man has nowhere to lay his head. 00:25:13.840 |
In other words, you're coming to me to seek glory, but the son of man is homeless. 00:25:21.300 |
You're coming because you think that if you hang out with the Messiah, that somehow some 00:25:24.680 |
of that glory is going to come to you, just like the disciples. 00:25:28.120 |
As he's prophesying, he's going to go to the cross. 00:25:33.920 |
And he's told his disciples, if you want to follow me, you deny yourself, empty yourself, 00:25:38.720 |
humble yourself, and pick up your cross and follow me as well. 00:25:43.520 |
Think about the beatitudes when Jesus begins to speak about the kingdom of God. 00:25:47.720 |
And he begins by explaining that the kingdom of God is completely different than the kingdom 00:26:00.240 |
I mean, how often do we say we're blessed because God gave us a good job? 00:26:09.840 |
We're able to find and be able to pay our bill. 00:26:17.260 |
If you were sad and God answers your prayers and we're rejoicing, he says, no, blessed 00:26:23.440 |
are those who mourn, blessed are those who are gentle, blessed are those who hunger and 00:26:31.600 |
You know how often we think of like establishing righteousness because we do quiet time, we're 00:26:37.560 |
so disciplined and we read scripture and we're evangelizing. 00:26:41.240 |
And sometimes when we are good at spiritual things, so we're blessed. 00:26:48.200 |
He says, blessed are those who hunger and thirst. 00:26:52.960 |
Sometimes those who are the most broken are hungering and thirsting. 00:26:56.920 |
Those who recognize their own sins, those who have gone through trouble and fell into 00:27:06.480 |
He says those who are hungering and thirsty sometimes, and I confess, you know, being 00:27:11.980 |
a leader is hard because when you're a leader, you have to teach and everywhere we go, every 00:27:22.400 |
So one of the downfalls of being a leader is you stop becoming a student for a while. 00:27:32.180 |
And I see a lot of people fall into this temptation that as soon as you become a leader, you have 00:27:36.800 |
this mindset of like, I got to have all the answers. 00:27:40.920 |
He says, no, you're not blessed because you know, or you have a degree or, you know, you've 00:27:44.640 |
been around for a long time and you have all these experiences. 00:27:47.000 |
He says, blessed are you because you hunger and thirst for righteousness. 00:27:51.160 |
Think about who hungers and thirsts for righteousness. 00:27:53.840 |
Usually it's new Christians, brand new Christians. 00:28:00.640 |
Blessed are those who are merciful, not those who conquer and are able to defeat every argument, 00:28:06.080 |
but he said those who are merciful, those who are pure in heart, those who are peacemakers. 00:28:10.720 |
You know, we think about our current situation. 00:28:12.720 |
We said India, the persecution meter is rising rapidly in North Korea. 00:28:18.120 |
You can't even own a Bible that could cause you to have death sentence. 00:28:21.840 |
There's certain part of Middle East just for gathering like this. 00:28:26.900 |
There's a possibility that you may be blown up. 00:28:29.640 |
Here it says, blessed are those who are persecuted. 00:28:33.800 |
We think of blessing as because we live in a free country, nice air conditioned room 00:28:38.080 |
and park your cars and we have these buildings. 00:28:42.980 |
But Jesus says, blessed are those who are persecuted. 00:28:51.920 |
If you know the Beatitudes, every one of these things he said they're blessed because it's 00:29:01.540 |
Whatever brings you closer, whatever causes you to be broken and bring you closer to Christ 00:29:12.600 |
Matthew chapter 18, one through four, it says at that time the disciples came to Jesus 00:29:17.200 |
and said, "Who then is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?" 00:29:19.920 |
And he called the child to himself and said him before them and said, "Truly I say to 00:29:23.480 |
you, unless you are converted and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of 00:29:29.440 |
Whoever then humbles himself as this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven." 00:29:34.560 |
You know, I've heard some people say that what Jesus was saying here is don't ask questions, 00:29:41.100 |
So if Jesus says jump, you just jump like a child. 00:29:45.980 |
He's saying this because they're coming and asking this question, who's the greatest? 00:29:51.860 |
So he's pointing to a child who has no power, no authority, no honor. 00:29:58.720 |
And he's talking to the lowliest, humblest person that he can think of and he says, "Unless 00:30:04.240 |
you become like him, you cannot understand the kingdom of heaven." 00:30:09.480 |
How much of our life is a pursuit of the next stage? 00:30:14.320 |
When we plant the church, when we get educated, get a job, our relationship, how much of our 00:30:21.000 |
pursuit is somehow getting to the next stage of glory? 00:30:26.500 |
Even in the church, in the name of Christ, how much of it is so that we can get to the 00:30:35.500 |
And James chapter 1, 14 to 15, he says, "But each one is tempted when he is carried away, 00:30:42.820 |
Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin. 00:30:45.100 |
And when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death." 00:30:47.820 |
You know, when we think of lust, we automatically think sexual lust, which is part of that. 00:30:53.780 |
But the word lust simply means great passion. 00:31:06.740 |
What if this desire, you go to someone's house, it's like, "Wow, I want to live in that house." 00:31:10.820 |
How much of our anger and how much of our fighting is because our desires, our strong 00:31:20.380 |
Our pride is the source of the conflict among our friendship, in our marriages, our relationships, 00:31:30.580 |
Pride is the reason, oftentimes, why churches break up, why we fight with our neighbors, 00:31:42.260 |
Pride is the source and the underlying factor that identifies a rebellious man. 00:31:51.580 |
Wanting to touch some of that glory, wanting to have what God has, maybe in different degrees. 00:31:57.820 |
The whole world is in pursuit, and you know it. 00:32:01.780 |
Because the moment that we are born, the question is, what is he going to be? 00:32:08.220 |
And we have in Korea, we have this doljabi thing. 00:32:10.660 |
Some of you guys know what I'm talking about. 00:32:12.860 |
You've been to one of those parties and you grab what he's going to be, and it's usually 00:32:17.060 |
his doctor, it's a scholar, he's going to be a businessman. 00:32:21.660 |
I've never seen anybody put trashcan in there. 00:32:29.300 |
Because, like all of us, we are expecting that our children are going to become something 00:32:37.580 |
And so all our pursuit is pursuing what we may have had in our mind, now we're hoping 00:32:45.900 |
But how much of our natural pursuit of our glory and glory for our children is killing 00:32:54.700 |
This is not by accident that the Son of God came in the lowliest of possible situation. 00:33:08.420 |
And he says, if you want to live, what does he say? 00:33:17.540 |
See, because the Jews and the people of that time could not understand this, and say, why 00:33:22.740 |
would the King of Kings, who's going to establish us and bring eternal peace and conquer all 00:33:32.220 |
Even the disciples didn't understand, even as he was making it very plain. 00:33:38.180 |
I know he said he was going to die and be crucified, but maybe we just don't understand. 00:33:44.180 |
How much of our frustration in our walk with God is because we don't understand? 00:33:49.320 |
How much of our frustration if God's not answering our prayers is because we don't understand? 00:33:55.160 |
That where God wants to lead us is the exact opposite of our pursuit. 00:33:59.960 |
That we've created in our mind that being blessed means this, this, this, and this, 00:34:10.760 |
But here's a thing that I think is important for us not to miss. 00:34:15.240 |
Because when we think of Christ, it's like he's humble, right? 00:34:21.440 |
In fact, we would say that he's not just humble, he's humiliated. 00:34:26.300 |
If you follow me, not only do you have to humble yourself, you must be willing to be 00:34:31.680 |
But understand, he's not just calling us to be humble, to empty ourselves, become nothing. 00:34:39.120 |
Jesus did what he did in order to seek and save the lost. 00:34:44.200 |
In fact, if you see his exalted state, right, in the book of Revelation or whenever you 00:34:49.080 |
see prophecy of Christ in his throne, he's not in a humbled state. 00:34:59.800 |
And all of Israel, all of mankind are bowed down worshiping him. 00:35:03.280 |
In fact, Philippians chapter 2 ends with that. 00:35:05.820 |
Because he humbled himself, God exalted him to be a name above every name, every knee 00:35:09.360 |
shall bow, every tongue confess that Christ is Lord. 00:35:12.760 |
So that's, his humbled state was during the period when he was here specifically for the 00:35:22.480 |
In Mark chapter 10, 45, it says, "For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, 00:35:26.840 |
but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many." 00:35:32.200 |
He hummed himself and became nothing to save us, to walk in our shoes, to go where we were 00:35:39.600 |
at so that he can be a sympathetic high priest. 00:35:43.200 |
He experienced the manger, the shepherds, the chaos, being born in this young family, 00:35:51.720 |
maybe losing his father at early age, suffering the things that sinful mankind experiences, 00:36:01.280 |
Luke 19, 10, "For the Son of Man has come to seek and save that which was lost." 00:36:08.280 |
And Jesus told his disciples that you must do the same. 00:36:13.160 |
Apostle Paul says the same thing in 1 Corinthians 9, 19-23. 00:36:16.520 |
He says, "For though I am free from all men, I have made myself a slave to all." 00:36:23.520 |
At that time, in any period of time, who aspires to be a slave? 00:36:36.920 |
He was a Pharisee among Pharisees, possibly already sat in the Sanhedrin. 00:36:42.600 |
The guy who discipled him was Gamaliel, already famous, the top scholar of Israel. 00:36:47.720 |
And he says he's a free man who can travel anywhere he wants. 00:36:52.720 |
And he says, "Though I am free, I have made myself a slave to all so that I may win more." 00:37:01.280 |
He emptied himself and stepped in his shoe and took on what a slave would have to do 00:37:08.080 |
"To the Jews I became as a Jew so that I might win the Jews. 00:37:12.340 |
To those who are under the law as under the law, though not being myself under the law 00:37:16.360 |
so that I might win those who are under the law." 00:37:19.400 |
Imagine Apostle Paul lived all his life trying to live perfectly under the law. 00:37:24.280 |
And imagine the kind of life a Pharisee had to live in order to be considered a perfect 00:37:32.440 |
And Apostle Paul was on the top of that and then meeting Christ and realizing all of them 00:37:38.960 |
The sting of death is sin and the power of sin is the law, but we have been separated. 00:37:47.400 |
So can you imagine the freedom that they felt living under this oppression of the law and 00:37:53.740 |
And yet Paul says he puts himself right back to live under the law to save those who are 00:38:01.680 |
Turn 21, "To those who are without the law as without the law, though not being without 00:38:08.100 |
the law of God but under the law of Christ so that I might win those who are without 00:38:16.160 |
And you remember how much Paul hated the Gentiles. 00:38:22.400 |
That good Jew wouldn't even step into Samaritan because they considered themselves to be unclean. 00:38:28.080 |
And so if you look at the New Testament, so much of the language is trying to bring the 00:38:31.240 |
Gentiles and the Jews to be able to worship together. 00:38:35.100 |
And yet Apostle Paul says, "To those without the law I became without the law. 00:38:40.160 |
To the weak I became weak that I might win the weak. 00:38:42.320 |
I have become all things to all men so that I might be all means, save some. 00:38:47.200 |
I do all things for the sake of the gospel so that I may become a fellow partaker of 00:38:54.240 |
You cannot love, truly love, without emptying yourself. 00:39:07.540 |
If there was a job description that said, "Your job is to wipe people's butts," right, 00:39:14.920 |
Some of you have already signed up because you're nurses. 00:39:20.160 |
Whether you like it or not, it comes with the job. 00:39:22.480 |
But if somebody said, "You can be a nurse without wiping butts," I'm sure most of you 00:39:27.520 |
I think it's a very honorable profession, but it's a dirty job. 00:39:36.740 |
But if you had an option not to wipe butts, right, and give needles and take care of them, 00:39:41.360 |
do all this stuff, I'm sure you would easily volunteer. 00:39:43.640 |
It's like, yeah, that one thing will hire somebody else, right? 00:39:49.300 |
What if the job description says, "You got to wipe butts," with no pay? 00:40:01.600 |
In fact, not only will people sign up, many of you have already signed up. 00:40:17.900 |
There are people in our church who are praying to wipe butts, that they get an opportunity 00:40:25.680 |
And you're doing it happily, voluntarily, and it brings joy to your life. 00:40:33.580 |
Every single one of you had your butts wiped, and every single parent has wiped butts. 00:40:42.640 |
I know some people, they gag at their own poo. 00:40:45.900 |
And it was like, "Well, how are they going to have kids? 00:40:51.140 |
But they adjust because it's their own kid, because they love them. 00:40:58.060 |
The Bible says, "God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son." 00:41:06.460 |
Every step of redemptive history, every step of Jesus' journey to do what he did, was not 00:41:17.060 |
And the only reason that you and I can possibly fathom is his love. 00:41:28.680 |
Every single one of us would create hell for the Nazis. 00:41:39.340 |
The mystery is why would the Son of the Most High God put himself to be humiliated to save 00:41:52.440 |
You know, those of you who have children, you know, you're raising your kids, and because 00:41:57.300 |
of your love, you're going to be challenged one day, to different degrees. 00:42:03.100 |
You know, those teenage years come around, and you hold on to your pride, you're not 00:42:18.500 |
How can he say, after all I've done, after everything I've done, after the sacrifice 00:42:24.780 |
And everything in your flesh wants to, "Get the heck out of my house." 00:42:30.980 |
But the love of Christ, love for your child, will compel you to humble yourself for their 00:42:38.260 |
And that's exactly what Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5.14, "For the love of Christ controls us," 00:42:44.300 |
in the NIV it says, "It compels us, having concluded that one died for all, therefore 00:42:56.660 |
He came and he sacrificed, and he came to the city, burnt out, and being beaten, stoned, 00:43:03.620 |
put into prison, and then Jesus himself said, "I have many disciples here, you continue 00:43:11.420 |
He loves this church, but the church started going off, getting divided, all chaos coming 00:43:17.260 |
So Paul had to write this very difficult letter in 1 Corinthians, and their response in many 00:43:23.220 |
"Who the heck is this guy telling us, 'Shall I come to you with a whip?'" 00:43:31.220 |
They were questioning his apostles, so he writes a second letter defending his apostleship. 00:43:36.700 |
And he's struggling to love them and to rebuke them at the same time. 00:43:43.260 |
Humanly speaking, just shake off the dust, just move on, there's so many other places. 00:43:49.180 |
In fact, the thorn on his side, in my opinion, most likely was his detractors. 00:43:57.380 |
But Jesus says, "In order to humble him because so much was coming through him, in 00:44:01.300 |
order to keep him humble, God allowed the thorn on his side to continue." 00:44:07.220 |
Because once pride started coming, it will ruin him. 00:44:11.260 |
And so Paul is writing this in this context of probably wanting to wrap it up, move on, 00:44:17.420 |
shake off the dust, and why is he writing this letter? 00:44:22.380 |
He says, "For the love of Christ controls us, having concluded this, that one died for 00:44:48.820 |
Sanctification is becoming less, becoming less. 00:44:53.140 |
So that as we become closer and closer to Christ, that we can have the same attitude 00:45:08.900 |
Every part of his birth story is to remind us. 00:45:18.380 |
But until then, for the sake of the lost, clothe yourself with Christ. 00:45:32.660 |
Say things that we would not naturally say, that have consequences. 00:45:36.780 |
But we would get out of ourselves, humble ourselves, as Christ came to us, that we would 00:45:59.100 |
How much we struggle to compete, to compare, and ultimately creating conflicts. 00:46:08.740 |
Lord teach us what it means to deny ourselves, and pick up our own cross and follow you as 00:46:17.380 |
Lord, we thank you for your love, your humility, your humiliation. 00:46:27.180 |
That we also may have life abundantly in you.