Building Up the Church Part 4, Dealing with Sin (Luke 17:1-10) | Pastor Peter Kim

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good morning church family happy lord's day we're going to go and begin our service with this first song psalm 103 i wanted to read a portion of it it says in verse 8 the lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in loving kindness. He will not always strive with us, nor will he keep his anger forever. He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his loving kindness toward those who fear him. As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us just as the father has compassion on his children so the lord has compassion on those who fear him so as we sing this first song i pray that we would reflect on this song and what we sing to our god Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that's within me, praise Him.

Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all He's done. He forgives all your iniquities, and heals all your infirmities. He redeems your life from the pain And crowns you with mercy As far as the east is from the west So far have you taken our sins from us And as high as the heavens are over the earth, so great is your steadfast love toward us.

Bless the Lord, my soul, and all that's within me, praise Him. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not who He is. As our Father shows compassion to His beloved children, so the Lord shows compassion to us, to those who feel it.

As far as the east is from the west, so far have you taken our sins from us. And as high as the heavens are over the earth, so great is your steadfast love to us. As far as the east is from the west, so far have you taken our sins from us. Maybe as high as the heavens are over the earth, so great is your steadfast love toward us. All right, good morning.

Welcome to Burring Community Church. We have a few announcements to get started with. First of all, this coming Friday, we have our all-church praise and prayer. So please try to come by 7.30 or a little bit earlier so we can get started. Just good news that we were able to secure Kimco for parking. So when you come this Wednesday and Friday, it will be open. So before it was just open on Sunday, but now it's going to be open at nighttime. So Wednesday, if you come to the distinctives, that parking lot will be open. There are going to be some construction. There's going to be some construction that's happening. I don't think this week, but at some point. But just be mindful of that. But again, starting from next Sunday, the parking will be open for, Kimco parking will be open for young families with children.

If you have strollers that we don't want you crossing the street, use that parking lot. Or if you're over 60. Okay, so that's the criteria, 60. Okay, so if you're 60 and over, that parking will also. If you're 60 and over, you can park wherever you want. Okay, so we're just opening it. so just know that that parking will be open starting from next Sunday and then members meeting next Sunday at 2:00 p.m. so just keep that in mind and if you can't make it please let us know ahead of time and along with that as as we have members meeting we always have some kind of fundraising our vine ministry is going to be running the fundraising next week there's going to be Korean barbecue plates that will be served next Sunday so just keep that in mind so that you can eat lunch and then come straight into the members meeting afterwards. Okay. I think that's it for the announcements. After our pray set, our brother Asaph Lee is going to be coming up, giving his testimony and be baptized. And if you did bring a physical offering, our offering box is in the back on the way out. All right, let's pray.

Gracious Father, we thank you so much for just loving us, being patient with us, for saving us, and giving us hope, Lord God, in all things. Lord, as we have gathered together to focus our attention on you, to worship you, help us, Lord God, to put behind the things that we regularly be getting tangled with, that our love, our appreciation, our joy will come from you and you alone. So I pray, Father God, whether it is singing, whether it is your word being taught, whether it is giving, that all of it, Lord God, will be a pleasing aroma in your sight. So we pray, Father, as we give our offering, may it be multiplied for the sake of your kingdom. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Amen. Thank you.

Brothers and sisters, when we stand together, and when we're standing, why don't you turn to your neighbor and say hello, introduce yourself if you can. Thank you. Everything now, everything now, everything that has spread, praise the Lord. Everything now, everything now, everything that has spread, praise the Lord. Sing it together, praise you. Praise you in the morning. Praise you in the evening. Praise you when I'm young and when I'm old. Praise you when I'm laughing. Praise you when I'm breathing. Praise you ever seizing our soul.

If we could see how much Your Word, Your power, Your might, Your endless love, surely we would never cease to pray. Everything now, everything now, everything that has left, praise the Lord. Everything now, everything now, everything now, everything that has left, praise the Lord. Praise in the heavens, join with the angels, praise you forever and a day. Praise you on the earth now, joined with creation Calling on your mission still, if they could If they could see how much you're worth Near by your might, your endless love But surely they would never cease to pray Everything that, everything that Everything that has spread Praise the Lord Everything that Everything that Has spread Praise the Lord Everything that Everything that Has spread I wish you And I will worship, and I will worship, I will worship you with every breath.

And I will worship, and I will worship, I will worship you with every breath. The love of God is great far than tongue or pure can ever tell. It goes beyond the highest star and reaches to the lowest The guilty pair bowed down with kidding God gave his son to win His erring child he reconciled And pardoned from his son When years of time Shall pass away An earthly throne And kingdoms fall When men who hear Refuse to pray On rocks and hills and mountains long God's love so sure shall still endure All measureless and strong Redeeming grace to Adam's face The saints and angels Oh love of God

How rich and pure How measureless And strong It shall forevermore endure The saints and angels When they knew the ocean fell And were the skies of parchment We're every star on earth a quail And every man ascribe to write To write the law of God above We'll drink the ocean dry Nor can the scroll contain the bow O stretch from sky to sky O love of God, how rich and good How measureless and strong It shall forevermore endure But saints and angels shall die Oh, love of God How rich and pure How measureless And strong It shall forevermore endure the saints and angels.

It shall forevermore endure the saints and angels. Hello, church family and friends. My name is Asaph Lee, and this is my testimony. Like some people, I grew up in the church with two very God-fearing parents that guide me. Throughout my life, I was constantly inundated with stories from the Bible and characteristics of who God was, but never really felt like I knew him in my heart. When I was just four years old, I went to a VBS-like Bible study from 2010 to 2011. And at the end of this Bible study, there was an altar call where they called the kids participating to come up and accept Christ.

Since I was just young and no one else was going up there, I thought that it would be cool to go up there and show to all the other kids that I was courageous enough to stand up there and accept Christ, whatever that meant. At that point in life, I didn't really know what genuine faith looked like, and it was just the religion that I grew up with and my parents believed in. Throughout my years, I spent life living the lie that I was Christian, until the start of sixth grade. First was the environment change. I went from being the oldest role model in Sprouts to the smallest in Vine, but the oldest at school. At Vine, I started to understand what genuine faith looked like, and I saw that it never really showed in my life.

I started to notice that I didn't really change at all from when I was born from my mother's womb to when I confessed. Even as I was entering my last year of elementary school, I was the exact same person. I didn't care about the Bible. I didn't care about God. I was also apathetic about school and moved to my parents. So when I realized that, I told my parents. I told them I wasn't a Christian. Throughout middle school and high school, I struggled with lust. I knew this was wrong. I felt guilty every single time. It never led to anything. I wanted it God, but I didn't know why at the time. I tried therapy. That didn't work. I tried advice from YouTube and the internet, which brought some emotions, but never helped.

before covid i read my bible but stopped after during this time i viewed the bible as nothing more than a book of good information i knew the bible i knew what characters did to try to fix themselves i knew what to say i had a conversation with multiple of my youth group teachers that i felt like saw i felt like i didn't deserve to be a christian yet i felt like i had to do something about my current sins so that i could come before god saying look what i've done i've conquered my sin. Look, like Saul in the Old Testament when he sacrificed to God instead of obeying. In 1 Samuel 13 and 1 Samuel 15, when Saul spared the best of the sheep and cattle, and when God told him to destroy everything. If I could just do things to please God, then I would feel like I would be ready to be Christian. Then came graduation in college. My entire life shifted again. New school, new church ministry, hopefully new me. I wasn't in fact a new me. It was the same me. The same me who lusted, was rude to his parents, didn't care much about the Bible. My first year was fine, made connections within the college ministry, attended church, yada yada yada. But during this time, I wondered, why am I still here? Why do I keep a Chanting Church if I'm not even getting anything out of it? It's not helping me with my sin. At this point in my heart, I only saw God as law. Obey what is in the Bible and you'll be fine. I saw from all the evidence I could gather that

God is real. Jesus, he's also real. But I also doubted if I could actually be saved or if it was just faith like the demons, as it says in James 2.19. I knew God existed and Jesus died for the world, but I didn't really care. I didn't want Jesus' pity. I wanted to prove to the all-knowing God who created the whole world that I could get rid of all my sin. I knew I couldn't, yet because of my stubbornness, I tried to. In my second year of college, I wanted to actively search for the Lord. Before this, I would say to people that I was searching, but never consciously put in the effort. I would just end up not doing anything and waiting on God to provide me with a Saul-Paul moment, when I would suddenly realize that I needed him. That moment never came. I started to semi-read my Bible and actually take notes during Bible studies and Sunday sermons. I was going through Ecclesiastes at the time, my favorite book of the Bible by then, and it gradually started to change my relationship with sin. I remember a moment before Friday Bible study when Pastor Sun came to me to point out something I had done at a sophomore meetup. He pointed out during that meetup that I had acted in a way that was unbefitting of the image to the unbelievers at that meetup. After that talk, I cried and I prayed to the Lord. I prayed that he would use that moment to change my stubborn heart and heart to turn to him.

Little did I know that in just a short time, he would. After my first semester, I started going through Psalms and did accountability with another sophomore brother, Luke Chow. During January, he encouraged me to come out to Searchlight, the Berean College Ministries on-campus ministry at UCI. After the event, another brother, Isaiah Liu, came to me expressing doubts about his faith and brought up the passage, Matthew 7, 21 to 23. Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven will enter. Many will say to me on that day, Lord, Lord, do we not prophesy in your name, and in your name cast out demons, and in your name perform many a miracle?

And then I will declare to them, I never knew you, depart from me, you who practice lawlessness. I explained to him that he shouldn't have doubts because if he has faith, then his faith is the one that should quell any doubts. And after explaining this to him, I realized that what was holding me back was the fear of Jesus's rejection. At this point, I knew the weight of my sin. I knew that Jesus was the only one who could take it away. And all I had to do was confess and follow. And I was too scared. What if he says he never knew me if I take this leap of faith? What if he says I'm not good enough? Would it be a false, positive? These thoughts for the next two days rolled around in my head searchlight was on wednesday and bible study was on friday and after bible study when i got home i went to my father about what i was thinking about i asked him all my questions about my doubts and he told me what i had told isaiah on wednesday that through faith all doubts go away he asked if i brought this up to my sister hope yet i said no and he told me to ask her I went to her, and she had a different perspective on my matter.

She walked me through my dilemma of doubts and affirmation, and after a long discussion, I said that I did believe. She then said, now what?

and I confessed all that I've done that night while lying on my bed. After my confession, I still struggle through sin, but I can say with confidence now that I know God has justified me, is sanctifying me, will one day glorify me through his son Jesus, who lived a full, perfect life as a man, died and took my sin to the grave to pay for it, and rose again to show that he had conquered sin. I find myself every day to strive, striving to become more like Jesus, reading the word, wanting to serve, taking membership, and praying more than ever. Through my every action, I pray that I'm always a good witness of the one who showed me mercy when I needed it and who is Lord over my life. Thank you.

Except you understand when you're going into the water, you're being invited to cry to death, and when you're coming out, you're being invited to be resurrected by. I baptize you in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Lord. All right, thank you, ASAP, for that powerful testimony. If you guys can turn your Bibles with me to Luke chapter 17, We'll be reading from verse 7 to verse 10. Luke chapter 17, verses 7 through 10. Which of you, having a slave plowing or tending sheep, will say to him, when he has come from the field, come immediately and sit down to eat?

But will he not say to him, prepare something for me to eat, and properly clothe yourselves and serve me while I eat and drink? And afterwards, you may eat and drink. He does not thank the slave because he did the things which were commanded, does he? So you too, when you do all the things which are commanded you, say, we are unworthy slaves. We have done only that which we ought to have done. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for this morning. We thank you for your living work. And as you have poured your breath, your life into it, I pray that we may know this life. That we may know your breath. that we may come in contact not simply with your thoughts but with your very being. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. As you guys know in a few weeks our Korea summer mission team will be headed out to Korea and we have some Korean students who are coming in at least actually tomorrow and some of our team members will be watching over them and trying to share the gospel with them.

They're non-Christians that are coming and so you know through the years as we've been doing ministry out there as Christianity is plummeting, especially with the young people. You know, the few times that we've been out there I was able to have some contact with North Korean refugees and so that's one of the ministries that they're actively pursuing because the number of North Korean refugees are growing and there's several hundred thousand people who are already there and the churches are active in trying to reach them. But a few opportunities I had to talk with them they said one of the challenges in trying to get the non-christian or the north korean refugees to come to church is that they have a fear that they left one regime and then to commit themselves to another king and so the idea they love the gospel they love what the churches are doing for them but there's a fear and understandably you know they left north korea because of the heavy handedness and the suffering that they went through under a totalitarian government, under one man. And then to come to South Korea and they hear the gospel and they're saying that Christ is our Lord. And so the idea of making another person their king is a huge obstacle for them to get through. And so they're like so many of them were so close and they openly admit. It's a hard pill to swallow. This is probably true. Even if you're not from North

Korea, the idea of surrendering to somebody doesn't come naturally to us. Some of you are maybe a little bit more submissive than others. Maybe some of you kind of never made trouble and did whatever your parents told you to do. Some of you are like me. That's very hard to do. But whatever the case is, no natural human being likes to just submit. So the idea of calling us slaves in Christ, there's some part of us that doesn't sit well. In fact, if you look at this story, you may actually even be offended. You do all your work, and after you labored, and you come in, and instead of resting, get ready, and serve me some more. And until the master is done eating, you can't rest. And then after that, you know, you don't expect to even thank them.

You're just like, okay, I've done what I'm supposed to do. And then you go into your room, right? And he says, that's how you should be. So the idea of this calling us slaves in Christ just naturally doesn't sit well with us. In fact, Jesus uses that image quite a bit in his illustrations. In Matthew chapter 18, he talks about a slave who is forgiven a thousand talents, hundreds of millions of dollars, and he turns around and he's unforgiving for somebody who owes a hundred denarius, like just a few bucks. But the imagery is slavery. In Luke chapter 12, again, to be a faithful slave, to be ready for when the master comes so that you'll be ready to open the door. And then in Matthew 25, about the slaves who were given the opportunity to use their talents, and he said, you ungrateful, you're unfaithful slave, you wicked slave.

Over and over again, the idea of slavery is used. In fact, as I mentioned before, slaves were very common in the first century. Depending on where you lived, it was as high as one-third, especially in Rome. One-third, that means every three people that you meet, one of them would be a slave. That's how common it was. In fact, if you read the New Testament, slavery was happening inside the church. Ephesians chapter 6, 5 through 9, slaves were called to be obedient to their masters. So Paul is talking to slaves in the church. They were not all runaway slaves. Colossians chapter 4.1, they were slave owners in the church, masters are all to treat slaves justly and fairly. Now, I'm only highlighting a few verses, but we can comb through the New Testament and the epistles in particular, where we know for a fact that there are slaves and there are masters in the church. In fact, the whole letter is written to deal with this issue in Philemon.

We have Philemon who was a slave owner, and he wasn't a former slave owner. He was a former slave owner to Onesimus, but most likely he was currently a slave owner. And Onesimus was a previous slave, but Paul's writing this letter to try to reconcile as brother in Christ. So we know that the early church had slaves and slave owners in the church. Now, this may be surprising to you. Some people, again, there's no concrete evidence of this, but some people believe that there's a possibility that Peter, Andrew, John, and James could have been slave owners. Now, there is no concrete evidence of this, but the reason why they say that is wealthy businessmen often had slaves. And we know that for a fact that Peter, James, John, and Andrew were wealthy fishermen because they had their own boats. A common fisherman did not own their own boats. Peter's house, his mother's house, was big enough where they would have their meeting. That was their center where they did their ministry. So they weren't just common fishermen. They were wealthy. They were successful fishermen. So deductive reasoning, again, no concrete evidence, but deductive reasoning says there's a possibility that they were slave owners. But another reason why we would say they were slave owners, possibly, and it doesn't change one way or the other, look at the way he addresses them. "Which of you, having a slave who is plowing or tending sheep. Now, who is He talking to when He says, "Which of

you?" In verse 1, He says, "He said to His disciples." So His audience has not changed. He's talking to His disciples, and He says, "Which of you, knowing that they have possibly personal experience from this, which of you, if you owned a slave, would you do this?"

Now, the idea of slavery obviously in our culture is very offensive because of the horrific stories that we have heard and we have read and we have learned. So, slavery was extremely immoral, extremely hurtful part of not only American history, but history period. I'm sure some of you guys may have read or heard or saw videos that slavery was not unique to the United States. This was worldwide. but what is the paradox with this is as jesus is speaking and using this what we would consider to be an offensive illustration he oftentimes reminded the disciples that you are not slaves that you're co-laborers with christ in fact matthew chapter 19 28-29 he says to his disciples that you're going to be sitting in thrones, judging the nations.

That they're going to be royalty. He said, everyone who left his father and mother to follow after me, that great will be his reward. Which seems to be a contradiction to what he says here. In fact, when the disciples asked to teach us how to pray, he didn't say, pray, Master, would you have mercy on me? And give me a chance. He doesn't say that. He says, "No, pray our Father which art in heaven." He's not your master, not addressing Him as your master, but as your heavenly Father. Galatians 4:7 straight up says, "We are no longer slaves, but sons and heirs with Christ." So the paradox of Jesus reminding His disciples, reminding us to the epistles that we have been delivered, that we are adopted children of God, we are to pray to Him as our Father.

And yet Jesus tells His disciples that you are slaves. And He gives a job description that all that you are going to be doing is as a slave. So don't expect anything, don't expect a thank you, just do your work, that I've just done what a slave is supposed to do. So the natural question that we have to be asking is why does He do that? What is the point? What lesson did He have to teach the disciples? Again, remember the context in which this is being taught. The disciples are being prepared for Jesus to go to the cross. He's preparing them for ministry. And as He is preparing them, if you remember, He's warning them of the pitfalls that are going to come. He told them about the religious leaders, the hypocrites.

They are not the ones who represent God. He told them about the concerns about the riches. And then just in the immediate context, He talked about doing things and stumbling others to be careful, and then He says to forgive, right? How many times? Even if they come and ask for forgiveness seven times every day, forgive Him. Remember the response that they gave. The response was, "This is impossible. Give us greater faith." Jesus says that if you have a seed, a faith of a mustard seed, that you can tell this mulberry tree that may seem impossible to move, that you're going to be able to move this and have it planted in the sea if you would just have small faith. In other words, you have it, you just need to exercise this. So the reason why He's telling them this is because the disciples were going to be given authority literally to move mountains, to raise people from the dead.

And so the first reason I believe why Jesus is telling this and why He uses this extreme example is to humble them because Jesus knew that they would struggle with pride. Pride above all the things that ruins the church, bad teaching, you can say poor organization, We can say all kinds of stuff like, "If we don't do this properly, that church is going to get ruined." The greatest challenge to the church has always been ourselves, our own pride. And He knows that pride is going to ruin them. Satan fell because he wanted to be like God. The temptation that he gave to Adam and Eve was that you will also be like God. The temptation of the Tower of Babel, when they gathered together, they didn't sing Kumbaya let's look for world peace. No, they wanted to be like God. Pride ruins families, pride ruins relationships, husband and wife, and ultimately it is pride that ruins the church and God's work.

Proverbs 16:18 says, "Pride goes before destruction." So if you see a man or a woman who has a hearty spirit and is proud, you know that what's coming is destruction. Not glory, not a pedestal, not acknowledgement, but the Scripture tells us destruction. In fact, James 4:6 says, "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble." He is actively opposing pride. You don't have to seek pride because pride is already in us. Pride is already in us. You don't have to go look for pride. You have to fight pride. You have to struggle against pride because pride is already in us. as soon as you see yourself a little bit taller than other people you know it oh my hair is thicker than yours right i have better shoes than you my skin complexion is better and you already know i don't have to ask you it's already in your head i went to a better school than this person i've achieved more i have more no i i have a better job i get better paid i have i drive a a better car it doesn't take much to cause us to be proud i'm more gifted i've done more things i'm older than you you're younger than me it's already inside of us so if we don't actively fight pride pride will ruin us and and jesus knew that this was in them he knew that it was in them so he in order for jesus to be able to use them they need to first fight their pride jesus said that after i leave you're going to do greater works than what you

have seen and that's exactly what they do the holy spirit comes and empowers them they're able to raise people from the dead heal the sick everything that jesus did and they multiplied it they had audiences with governors audiences with kings in fact they were so effective that economies began to change. Some people will argue up to that point, the Roman Empire was the greatest empire up to that point. You know what completely flipped the Roman government upside down? Was Christianity. In 300 years, the emperor bowed his knees to Christ. And Jesus told them that this was going to happen. But he knew. He knew what was going to stumble them. What was going to ruin all of this is their own pride. See, they were eager to do the work, but they were equally eager to touch some of that glory. Like, I want God to be glorified through me. I want God to be honored through me. I want the gospel to be preached through me. And if we're not careful, that desire to be used by God can easily, easily be perverted by our own pride. There's a reason why Jesus uses the term slave here. Now, two prominent words in the New Testament that's used, that's often translated servant and slave. The word that is used here is doulos, and the word doulos literally means slave, not a servant. What you and I typically think of a servant is diakonos, right? And I know that in our college department that your core group is called doulos. So from now on, we're just going to call you

slaves, right? Because that's what that literally means. And the Bible uses that term on purpose because doulos, a slave, has no rights. See, diakonos is somebody that you can hire paying for a period, and he is hired for a particular work. So he may be a servant, but he's not owned by the master. But that's not the word that he uses. He doesn't simply say, "You are hired servants to go and do your work, and at the end, great is your reward." Although he does say that, but Jesus uses an extreme term, doulos, "No, you are a slave. You have no rights." Not only that, as he describes the work, he says, "How many of you, having a slave, that he went out plowing and shepherding all day and he comes back?"

And he uses these two things that would have been offensive. Plowing is probably the hardest thing that you can do, and shepherding is probably the lowliest thing that you can do. If you've ever tried to move dirt by hand, you know how hard that is. i mean a lot of you may not have that experience you know years ago when me and my older brother decided that you were going to pave our front lawn because we needed more more space to park our car and so obviously we don't have money there's equipment you could just hire somebody but him and i decided to do that and it was just a small piece of land maybe about 100 150 square feet it probably took us about four days of just digging and digging and digging and i remember thinking I thought in my mind I said how hard can it be to go four inches under you know and remove grass and at the end of that we say oh my gosh you know and I've had I've had all kinds of jobs right I've worked at lumber yards I cleaning toilets and had to go underground pipes and cleaning and I had all kinds of I could say you know the two hardest work was dishwashing right and there's reason behind that which I won't get into but I would say the hardest work I've ever done was digging ground. And he deliberately uses that as an illustration. He said, "You worked all day breaking your back to plow the land, and he's shepherding," which would have been considered the worst. Not only did he have to care for these dirty sheep, they smelled like it

all the time. So to the Jews, shepherding was the lowliest, dirtiest, filthiest job that you can do. So he uses that as an illustration. He said, how many of you had a slave, went out, did the hardest and the dirtiest work? When he comes in, are you going to say, hey, good job, take a break? He says, no, you come in and you gird up your loins. Literally, that's what it means to put on clothes. That's what he says. That you're not done with work because the master hasn't eaten. Gird up your loins. Clean yourself up because now you need to feed the master. And then, so you go, and after a long days of work, filthy, dirty, he's about to rest, and you can say, no, you can't rest until I'm fed, and then he does all his work, and then until that.

And then after he's finished, he says, do you thank him for that? No. So the offense here is not how he describes the slave and the master. No one gets offended by that, because they all understood that's what a slave is. The offense wasn't how he described the slave and the master. The offense is, he says, so you too. This is you. I'm describing you. This is how you ought to be. That after you've done all your work. You just say, I just did what I was supposed to do. Because I'm a doulas of Christ. And then you can go and rest. I mean, how can you be so offensive? This seems to be one of the coldest ways that Jesus describes what he's calling people to do. See, Jesus already knew what was in their heart.

And he knew if he didn't deal with that, that he was going to destroy them. Remember, Jesus is headed toward the cross. And in the Gospel of Mark, it tells us that three separate, clear times, Jesus makes it clear that he's going to the cross. but each time when he tells them i'm going to go to the cross i'm going to suffer i'm going to be beaten and you know what they were talking about who's going to be in glory with you that's what was in their head in mark chapter 8 31 to 32 and he began to teach them that the son of man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes right and he said and be killed and after three days rise and he was stating the matter plainly and Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him you know what's really interesting about Mark's account Mark was apostle Peter's personal secretary right Mark was not one of Jesus's disciples but he writes one of the gospels so most scholars believe that Mark's account is Peter's account that Peter probably shared with him on the journey and telling stories about what happened.

And so Mark, in remembrance of that, is writing this down. So when he says, when Mark says that he made it very clear, he made it very plain that that's probably what Peter told him in remembrance. He kept on telling us this, but we just didn't get it. That's what probably Peter was telling him. In Mark 9:31-32, it says, "The Son of Man is to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill him. And when he has been killed, he will rise three days later." But they did not understand the statement, and they were afraid to ask him. I think this is Peter telling Mark. It wasn't because he didn't make it clear, but it didn't make any sense. He's the the Messiah. Clearly he's headed to glory and yet he's telling us something that just doesn't fit.

Only after his utter failure, only after his restoration, he's looking back and said he did tell us this. But because it was so outside of my paradigm of what we were expecting, he said we didn't understand and we didn't dare ask him. And then lastly in Mark chapter 10, 33, 34, he says it But again, remember the number three is a number of completion. And Mark is stating for this purpose, that it wasn't because it was miscommunicated. It wasn't because he didn't communicate enough. He said he made it crystal clear, but something in their paradigm resisted what he was teaching. And he tells them again that he's going to go to Jerusalem, the Son of Man will be delivered to the chief priests and the scribes.

And after this, Mark 10:35-37, it's almost kind of like James and John was not even there. They go to Jesus and said, "Okay, now can you do us a favor and make me and James sit on my left and to the left and to the right?" Jesus knew that this was in their head. He knew. Yes, there's a trouble with the Pharisees. The synagogue leaders are going to put you in jail. You're going to be tempted with finance. You're going to have struggles dealing with people, forgiving, getting along. All of that is true, but one of the biggest stumbling blocks in your life is going to be your own pride. And that's what he was addressing. You know what's interesting? If you look at Paul's letters, and if you look at it in sequence of how he describes himself, it's interesting because Galatians was the first letter, at least that's what most people agree. Written in AD 49, he describes himself as Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ.

1 Thessalonians, the next letter, written in AD 51, Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy. No title, just Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy. 1 Corinthians, that's written in AD 55, he says, "I am the least of the apostles." Ephesians, written in AD 60, he says, "I am very least of the saints." And then And then 1 Timothy in AD 63 says, "I am the foremost of sinners," and you see the progression of how he views himself. And this is a man who is maturing and drawing closer to God. Maturity is not because you know more, you did more, you experienced more, you're more gifted. He said, no, he had a growing recognition of his sinfulness, how small he was. See, spiritual maturity is not, you know, I've mastered the Bible and I've mastered the theology and I have this gift and I have all this experience.

He said, no, if you see a man, if you're studying the Bible, which causes you to be proud, the word of God is ruining you. If you're serving, and your service is bearing a lot of fruit, and it causes pride, your service is ruining you. Because the scripture clearly says, once pride comes in, next comes destruction. God is actively opposing. He's working to humble you. Jesus already knew this was in his heart. Of all the things that will stumble them, it was what was in their own heart. See, if you have a room filled with people who are filled with pride, it's just taking time bomb. There's a reason when you go for a job interview, one of the first questions that they ask you is, "Can you work in a team?"

No matter what job you're getting, you could be a computer analyst sitting in the room looking at a computer by yourself, but they will always ask you, "Can you work in a team?" a proud person doesn't and cannot work in a team it's my way or the highway they cannot submit and so not only do they ruin themselves they ruin everybody around them eventually they're going to ruin the company and so one of the first thing that they ask is are you able to work together in other words is your ego going to get in the way of serving jesus knew that if he didn't deal with this if he didn't point this out if they didn't accept this ministry as a humble slave that their downfall was going to be themselves i remember when i told my father that i was going to go into ministry and him being a second generation i'm being a third generation and i i only remember one advice i mean he passed away many years ago and still sticks to me to me today i mean to be honest i was not happy with what he told me because i was i wanted him to give me advice how to deal with people and struggles that he went through and all he told me was if you're serious about going to ministry and they start treating you like a like a servant is because you are and as a young pastor i mean i was what 20 20 21 years old right i kind of understood and i I knew that this was coming from his own pain and his own experience.

But of all the years that have passed now, I look back at it, and that was the most, the best advice I've gotten going into ministry. He said, you're not signing up for glory. You're not signing up for this or that. He says, you're signing up to serve. So sometimes they would thank you, and sometimes they would treat you like a servant. see he was telling his disciples right everybody knows how to handle honor everybody knows how to be thankful when they're bearing fruit but can you persevere when they're not honoring you when the fruits aren't coming and you're not getting along you're not on the same page can you get along can you humble yourself and say I'm just a slave and I'm just doing what my master told me but the second reason why he does this is because jesus knew that they would struggle with debtor's ethic debtor's ethic that term debtor's ethic comes from john piper's book future glory or future grace and in that book he's not addressing what what jesus is addressing here but i believe it correlates in that in that book debtor's ethic he's basically saying that we have a tendency to receive the grace of God and then we serve God. It's like somehow I'm going to pay it off. Since he gave me something that was so fantastic that we live the rest of our lives and we sacrifice and we give to pay off our debt. That's what he calls by debtor's ethic. And by doing so, it causes us to be bitter, angry when things just don't go our way. And then

that phrase that you guys know John Piper's ministry says, God is most glorified when we are the most satisfied in him. In other words, that we shouldn't labor to pay off our debt. You can't pay off the debt. So what God desires from us is to adore him, to worship him. So whatever we do, we do as an act of worship. That's what it means. Now, that's not what he's addressing here because in that book, he's saying that we are the debtors that we try to pay off. What Jesus is referring to here, is when we make God the debtor. We make God the debtor. I served you this much, but you didn't thank me. I did this, and you're still asking me to serve. That we, I sacrificed, I gave, and I did all of this, and this is all I get?

The disciples were thinking glory, but they never touched glory. In fact, majority of the fruit came after they died so the temptation could be that after they sacrificed maybe they were thinking that somehow this revolution of a gospel was going to cause them to be honored but that's not how they died they died upside down burned at the stake thrown into boiling oil left homeless lost their families and they could have easily said after all that I've sacrificed this is all I get see if we're not careful we could make him our debtor and sometimes if you look at the church the people who are the most bitter and angry people are people who at one point sacrificed more than anybody else they were the first to volunteer they serve their discipline they gave more than anybody else and then at some point after i've done all of that and this is all i get why didn't you answer my prayer why didn't church acknowledge me this is all i get and so the people who gave the most sacrificed the most because they made god the debtor they made church their debtor it all ends in bitterness and anger and he knew this was in their heart and he was trying to address this issue with them that if you don't see yourselves as humble servants just doing your job that it's going to ruin you.

See, God owns us. He doesn't owe us. That phrase, although it's true, it's biblical, just by me saying God owns you probably doesn't feel good. And even just the way we say it, like if somebody dominated you on the basketball court, what do they say? I own you. I hear some of you guys saying that. You can play checkers, and then you beat them four times. I own you. Right? You can play pickleball, and you win all the time. I own you in pickleball. So that phrase is not a phrase that's used in an encouraging manner. I own you. But that's exactly what Jesus is saying. God owns us. And it does not sit well with the sinner. It does not sit well with us. So we have a tendency to emphasize that we've been freed in Christ.

And we have Bible verses. If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. And so we love those verses. But in 1 Corinthians 6.20 it says, For you have been bought with a price, therefore glorify God in your body. You've been bought. You don't belong to yourself. We say, yes, we've been freed from the bondage of our sins. And yet Romans 1.14 says, I am under obligation, sorry, in Romans 6.18 says, and having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. We have a tendency to think freedom means now I'm free, I'm not bound to anybody, I can do whatever I want because God loves me unconditionally. He said, no, true freedom is having the freedom to live the way God intended us to live.

to live under submission, giving glory to God as His subject, to have life in Him. We are freed from that so that we may be slaves to righteousness. We're not slaves so that He can suppress us. We're not slaves so that we can live in a way where we don't experience life. He said, "No." That's why He says, "Your freedom," when He says, "Pick up your cross, deny yourself," He's not trying to suppress our joy. He's telling us a way to be delivered from what crushes our joy. It's our own pride. It's our own self-centeredness. So when He says, "If you want to come after me, let him deny himself and pick up his cross," He's giving us practical advice to deliver us from ourselves. He who finds his life will lose it.

Think about how much time, effort, and energy is spent trying to find ourselves. Where do I fit? Where do I fit? What am I supposed to do? Should I do this? Should I do that? Think about how much time we spend. Where do I fit? What is my gifting? Where should I serve? What do I need to do? And he says, "He who finds his life will lose it." Our whole endeavor in Christianity is to empty ourselves and become nothing so that we can be useful to the Master any way He wants us to use us. We don't come to God and say, "Lord, here am I. Send me to hear to these people at this time doing this, preaching to this with these people so they can respond this way so that I can have these fruits and after that to do this."

No, a servant is called and he said, "Who will go and say, 'Here am I, send me,' period. Wherever you go, because that is not my calling, that is His. He tells me where to go. He tells me what to say. He tells me to sit down. He tells me to stand up. I'm just a slave to do what He's called me to do. In Romans 11:35, it says, "Who has first given to Him that it might be paid back to Him again?" Apostle Paul is quoting Job 41:11. and he says who has given to me that I should repay him whatever is under the whole heaven is mine you know Romans chapter 114 Apostle Paul says I am under obligation both to Greek to the barbarians both to the wise and to the foolish what made Paul obligated to the Greeks and the barbarians what did they do for him did they take care of him when he was sick Why does he say he's obligated?

Obviously, he's not saying he's obligated to them. He's obligated to the master who's reaching them. Humanly speaking, Apostle Paul would have been the perfect apostle to the Jews. Because he already had everything that the Jews wanted. He had citizenship, Roman citizenship. He was wealthy. He was a disciple of Gamaliel, the top scholar of that time. He was a Pharisee among Pharisees. As to the law, he said he was zealous. He was willing to kill and go to jail. He says as to the law, he was perfect. He was already a Pharisee. He already sat in the Sanhedrin. So if you, humanly speaking, if we had Paul speaking to the Jews, they would listen. Superficially, it's probably true. Like today, you say, man, if Messi became a Christian, right, if Michael Jordan became a Christian, right, if some of these people who had worldly influence, if they became a Christian, can you imagine the impact that they would have?

That's what we would think. Well, they had a Michael Jordan. They had a Lionel Messi. That was Apostle Paul. In the Jewish community, that was Apostle Paul. But he sent him to the Gentiles. whom he hated because he was a Pharisee. He hated the Barbarians. He hated the Greeks. But he sent them. He established him. Why did he establish him? Because it wasn't him. Because it wasn't him. He wasn't trying to display Apostle Paul's gifting. He wasn't trying to use his status. He said he called me for what reason? because I am the worst of sinners. I'm the worst person to represent him, humanly speaking. But he presented me so that what? That if he can save somebody like me, if he can use somebody like me, he can use anybody. It was to humble us, to humble us. Not only was he chosen for the gentiles he was bearing so much fruit god put a storm on his side where he had to beg him to get rid of this he had to beg himself three times to get rid of it remember what jesus says in response he said no my grace is sufficient for you and the explanation that he gives there's so much revelation is coming through coming to you that i'm using you so mightily i'm afraid it's going to get to your head and he allows it so that he may be humble of all the things that they had concern about apostle paul was his pride and here's a man who is wealthy well connected well educated already top of the jewish world he meets christ and becomes a tent maker

He had to sell tent. I mean Jesus took gold coins out of fish's mouth. But as a hand-picked apostle of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles made him work. Why? Because his pride would kill him and it will ruin everything. It ruined himself. It ruined the ministry. It will ruin the church. and the last example that jesus gives before he goes to the cross knowing that the disciples are arguing with each other who's going to be the greatest jesus gets on his knees and he takes the feet of the disciples begins to watch them you have to understand that even diakonos would not do that only doulas would do that but even among the doulas are the ones who got in trouble. They were assigned to wash people's feet.

So Jesus was teaching them before he goes to the cross. He humbles himself, gets on his knees, and that's why the disciples respond violently. Master, because they were thinking glory. If you get on our knees, I mean, we're thinking of glory. This doesn't look good. You can't do this. Remember what Jesus says? If you do not allow me to wash your feet, I have no relationship with you. And he tells them, you do the same. He was illustrating what he was telling them here in this text. That desire to be somebody, to be recognized, to be better than others, will kill us. Ruins the church. It will ruin your marriage. It will ruin your relationship with your children. It ruined mankind.

We have to actively humble ourselves, actively humble ourselves. You don't have to. You may be thinking there, it's like, oh, thank God, I don't struggle with pride. There's not a single person. That's like saying I don't sin. There's not a single person that doesn't struggle. Whether you're vocal about it, whether it's sitting inside, we all struggle with pride. God wants us to see. But, you know, we don't become humble by saying, I'm going to be humble. And sometimes even the way that we humble ourselves, we want to be recognized. I'm the humblest in the world. We don't get humble because we try to be humble. You know who are the most humble? People who are gazing at something greater than them.

I know World Cup is going on. And the fantasy right now, those you guys who are watching, is that Messi and Ronaldo will meet in the finals, and they're gonna play for decades, we're debating who's the best, who's the greatest, you know? And it's divided, and possibly, is it possible that they're gonna meet? And that game is gonna be crazy. If you follow soccer, you know what I'm talking about, right? You know, you don't go into that game, you know, the craziest game that's been built up for decades, and the people arguing, and then go to that game and say, you know, nobody, nobody is recognizing me. You know what I mean? I dressed up for today, did my hair, and wore the best suit, but nobody said anything.

Right? I sat in a nice seat, and, you know, I cleaned up, and I served there, but nobody said anything. I don't think anybody in that game is going to be thinking about themselves. Because they're so enamored about what's going on. The game that they came to watch, all their joy, happiness, excitement, fellowship, all is going to be contingent upon what they came to see. And they naturally forget about themselves. See, a church filled with people who are fixated on God's glory and who Jesus is naturally become humbled. Not because we're trying, but because we forget it's not about me, it's not about you. It's not about me, it's not about you. It's about Christ. and that's why he says he's looking for people who worship him in spirit and in truth let that sink in let that sink in not only today but every day god is not looking for talented people god is not looking for educated people god is not looking for gifted people knowledgeable people, older people, wealthy people. God is looking for people who will empty themselves.

That Christ may be glorified. Let's pray. Father, we pray that your living word will continue to guide us and lead us, mold us and break us is whether our pride is external or whether our pride is internal that we would be people who are enamored with Christ and Christ alone the author and perfecter of our faith in Jesus name we pray amen let's all stand up for the closing praise All to Jesus I surrender All to Him I freely give I will ever love and trust in me His presence daily lay, I surrender all, I surrender all, all to Thee, my blessed Savior, I surrender all.

All to Jesus I surrender Longly at His feet I bow Worldly pleasures all forsaken Dear Jesus, dear Jesus, I surrender all, I surrender all, all to Thee, my blessed Savior, I surrender all All to Jesus I surrender Make me Savior, holy life Let me heal the Holy Spirit Truly know that Thou art here I surrender all I surrender all All to Thee, my blessed Savior I surrender to you I surrender all I surrender all All to thee, my blessed Savior I surrender all.

Let's all pray the Lord's Prayer together. Our Father who is in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors. And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. God sent his son. They called him Jesus. He came to love. He left for him. He lived and died. To buy my pocket An empty grave is there to The Savior lives Because He lives I can face tomorrow Because he lives, all fear is gone Because I know he holds the future And life is worth the living Just because he lives The friend of my days He will give you