(soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) - Good morning, Church family.

Happy Lord's Day. Romans 12, verses one and two goes, "Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good, acceptable, and perfect." This morning, as we reflect on God's great mercies, the great gospel that we have received, may we in return have a reasonable response of offering our lives to the Lord, a reasonable response of true worship to him.

So with that, we will begin our service. (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) ♪ All that I am ♪ ♪ All that I am ♪ ♪ All that I have ♪ ♪ I lay them down before you, oh Lord ♪ ♪ All my regrets ♪ ♪ All my acclaim ♪ ♪ The joy and the peace ♪ ♪ I'm making them yours ♪ ♪ Lord, I offer my life to you ♪ ♪ Everything I'm through ♪ ♪ Use it for your glory ♪ ♪ Lord, I offer my days to you ♪ ♪ Lifting my praise to you ♪ ♪ As a pleasing sacrifice ♪ ♪ Lord, I offer you my life ♪ ♪ It's a blessing ♪ ♪ Filled with my past ♪ ♪ Filled with tenacity ♪ ♪ Wishes and dreams that are yet to come true ♪ ♪ All of my hopes ♪ ♪ All of my plans ♪ ♪ My heart and minds ♪ ♪ Are lifted to you ♪ ♪ Lord, I offer my life to you ♪ ♪ Everything I'm through ♪ ♪ Use it for your glory ♪ ♪ Lord, I offer my days to you ♪ ♪ Lifting my praise to you ♪ ♪ As a pleasing sacrifice ♪ ♪ Lord, I offer you my life ♪ ♪ Lord, I offer my life to you ♪ ♪ Everything I'm through ♪ ♪ Use it for your glory ♪ ♪ Lord, I offer my days to you ♪ ♪ Lifting my praise to you ♪ ♪ As a pleasing sacrifice ♪ ♪ Lord, I offer you my life ♪ ♪ Lord, I offer you my life ♪ - All right, good morning.

Welcome to Bering Community Church. We have a new visitors welcome lunch that's taking place right after this service at 12.30. That's gonna be in the other building across the courtyard where they have youth group and our former cry room over there. So if you just go straight there at 12.30, we'll get started.

Even if you're not registered, if you're visiting the church and you kind of want to find out more about the church, that's a lunch that you want to attend. So some of the leaders will be there, our welcome team, and some of our members will be there as well.

So please sign up for that or you can just show up and tell them that you want to come, even if you haven't signed up for that. Just give you a heads up, next Sunday we have our communion. Again, I can't emphasize strong enough how important communion is for the life of the church.

And even though it is done in remembrance, it is something that's commanded in scripture to set apart so that we can remember and keep Christ and what he has done for us central. So we ask that you would come prepared so that we would not participate in an unworthy manner.

So we're just giving you a heads up to be ready for that communion next week. Galatians Bible study, if you haven't signed up for it, even if you're part of a home group that your home group lead already knows that you're going to come, even if that is the case, we need you to sign up because some of the home groups have been so impacted we need to figure out if we need to divide it or not.

And so we need you to sign up for that, even if you are for sure you're coming so that we can prepare for that. Otherwise we're going to end up plugging you in somewhere where there's space or we're going to end up bringing you, having to ask you to come to Wednesday because there's more flexibility on Wednesday.

So if you haven't signed up for that, please sign up as soon as possible. And then last announcement for today, all church retreat that's taking place, not this coming weekend, but one weekend afterward. And the registration is officially closed because there's no more room at the hotel. We have, but we do have service that's taking place here at 11.

So there will be service here at 11. Those of you who cannot make it and you are planning to come to church that Sunday, there is no nine o'clock service. There's only the 11 o'clock service. And so because of that, there's going to be no childcare because all the childcare and everything's going to be happening at the retreat and then no shuttle service.

So we're probably thinking you're not going to need the shuttle service that Sunday, but there are quite a few who probably are planning to come on Sunday. So you can probably just kind of park nearby here. So there's no shuttles for service that Sunday, but we'll remind you again next Sunday, but that's going on in two Sundays.

Okay, I think that's it for the announcements. After our praise, our sister Jane Lee is going to come and give her testimony and we'll be baptized. So let me pray for us and then we'll give you a minute to give your offering. And again, those of you who need a physical box, there's a box on the way out.

Okay, let's pray. Father, we have gathered here as a community to worship you, Lord God, and to do our best, Lord, to give you the honor and glory and praise that you deserve. I pray that you would search our hearts, search our lives, our thoughts, things, Lord God, that we try so hard to hide.

I pray that your word and your spirit would convict us and guide us, sanctify us, that we truly may be living lives worthy of the gospel that you've given. I pray that you would bless this morning in our worship, in your word, in our fellowship, in giving, that even in this, Lord God, may it be done to honor and glorify you, may it be multiplied for your use in your kingdom.

In Jesus' name we pray, amen. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ >> All right, thank you.

If you can turn your Bibles with me to Luke chapter 6, we're going to be jumping back into the Gospel of Luke. And we're going to be reading from verse 12 through 16 just to kind of refresh our memory. And I don't know how much longer I'm going to be in this text, but we're going to be going at a breakneck speed today, and we're going to be counting two instead of one, okay?

James and John. Starting from verse 12, it reads, "It was at this time he went off to the mountain to pray, and he spent the whole night in prayer to God. And when the day came, he called his disciples to him and chose 12 of them, whom he also named as apostles-- Simon, whom he also named Peter, and Andrew his brother, and James and John, and Philip and Bartholomew, Matthew and Thomas, James the son of Aphaias, and Simon, who was called the Zealot, Judas the son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor." Let's pray.

Father, help us to understand your Word. Help us not to add or to take away from it. I pray that you would shine your light through the Word of our own hearts. Help us to learn, glean, and apply the things that you teach. May your name be honored, glorified, and exalted.

In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Now, if you watch YouTube or-- I don't know where you get your videos, but one of the things that always kind of pops up every once in a while are videos of people who lost tremendous amount of weight. They were 300 pounds or something, and they lost 100 pounds, and you see a big, significant difference, and the video kind of chronicles how they were able to overcome various things to be able to do that.

Or the other way, where you have somebody who's very skinny, and then he works out, and about a year later, you just see the completely transformed man. And obviously, those videos are always popular because it's inspiring to see people kind of dedicate themselves and see the radical transformation physically.

But what is even greater than the physical transformation is when we see people completely change internally. As challenging, as inspiring it is to see people transform their outer body, it is much more difficult to see somebody who gets transformed internally. In fact, in Jeremiah 13:23, it says, "Can an Ethiopian change his skin?

Can a leper change his spot?" And basically compares it to a sinner who is in the practice of sinning to just simply stop sinning. He said, "It just doesn't happen." And if one thing after living all these years, one thing I can testify, and I think you will agree with me, people just do not change.

You just have a different version of ourselves when we're young, and then the way we carry it out, whether you're good or bad, you meet them 20, 30 years later, rarely you see a completely different person. Every once in a while, you'll meet somebody that you haven't seen for a while, and you can't even recognize who they are.

I'm not just talking about physically. Just internally, something happened to them. Either they become so dark, something happened to them. They went through maybe a very painful divorce or bankruptcy, or something happened to them, lost somebody that was very significant to them, and there's a darkness that comes over them, and you can see something has happened.

Or the opposite, there's somebody who's become so bright, and there's something completely different about them. And usually the question that we ask is, "What happened? What happened?" Because we know that as difficult as it is to transform our physical body, when you see somebody who's completely transformed a different person, we know something significant happened to that person.

That's the question that we ask. Well, in the scriptures, among the disciples, I think everybody, all the disciples, went through radical transformation, but James and John are probably the most obvious. James and John, these two disciples, these two of the inner three, they were known to be passionate. And passion could be a good thing or a bad thing, right?

It could be a passion. Somebody who's very passionate could mean that he's very zealous for the right thing, but it could also mean he has a bad temper, right? In this situation, it was not necessarily, at least the way it was being expressed and how it's revealed to us, is not necessarily positive.

In Mark 3, 16-17, he appointed the twelve, Simon, to whom he gave the name Peter, and James and the son of Zebedee, and John, the brother of James, to them he gave the name Bonergus, which means sons of thunder. Now, their name, sons of thunder, was not necessarily a positive, right?

It wasn't a prophetic word, like you're going to be the sons of thunder, kind of like when he saw Simon, he said your name is going to be Peter because you're going to be the rock. Or when Abram changes his name to Abraham, that he's going to be a God, he's going to be a father of multitude.

In this situation, it's just a description, right? When you say Air Jordan, right? Those guys from that generation, Air Jordan basically means, it was just a description of who he was because he would get up in the air. And so even his logo is him just flying up in the air, so that was a description of who he is.

Or Magic Johnson, I know a little bit outdated, right? Magic Johnson because when he was bringing down the ball, you didn't know where the ball was going to go, right? It was almost like he's creating magic, and back then you had cameras that would follow him, and oftentimes the camera would turn right and then the ball would go left, so they have to switch the camera to get him.

And so that's how he got the nickname Magic Johnson. And it was just a description, an observation of who they are. The sons of thunder was not necessarily a compliment because he saw certain characters of these two brothers. In Luke chapter 9, 46, and this was a common thing, and I think it grew as Jesus was headed to the cross, there was an argument that kept on breaking out among the disciples, like, "Who's the greatest?" And Jesus, recognizing that, he rebukes them and saying, "Unless you have a faith of a child," meaning these innocent children that don't have authority, don't have power, don't have money, "if you don't humble yourselves like these little children, "you will not be able to enter the kingdom of heaven." It is in that context, in verse 49, it tells us John saw some people who were going out performing miracles, casting out demons, and it bothered him.

And he says, "Master, we saw someone "casting out demons in your name, "and we tried to prevent him "because he does not follow along with us." But Jesus said to him, "Do not hinder him, "for he who is not against you is for you." Now, those words in and of itself may seem innocent, but when you see it in the context of what was going on before that, that they were arguing with one another, "Who's the greatest?" And Jesus rebuking them.

So when John says this, it wasn't simply because he was concerned, like, "Do they have the authority? "Do they have the right?" They were the ones who were the apostles. They were the one who was chosen. And these guys are doing the same thing, and people are honoring them, too.

So within the context, this was not an innocent question because they're arguing with each other, "Who's the greatest?" And these guys are doing the same thing. Should I stop them? So Jesus rebukes them, and says, "He who is not against us is for us." So it kind of reveals to us what's going on with John.

But what's really revealing and what caused Jesus to give them this question is stated in verse 51 through 56. Right after that text, it says, "When the days were approaching for his ascension, "he was determined to go to Jerusalem," referring to Jesus, "and he sent messengers on ahead of him, "and they went and entered the village of the Samaritans "to make arrangements for him." So when we get to this text, I'm going to go a bit more detail about the historical background of why the Samaritans and the Jews hated each other so much.

But just so that you can understand what's going on, when the Assyrians came and they conquered the Jews, they took all the men and women, and they took them into Assyria. And there was a small remnant of people that remained in Jerusalem. And in order to gain control of that area, the Assyrians sent a lot of their people to populate that area.

So what happened was the Jews who remained in the area and the Assyrians who started to come started to integrate and intermarry. And as they were intermarrying, the Samaritans began to create their own version of Judaism. They had their own sacrifice. They had their own system so that they didn't have to go to where the Jews were.

And so the Jews always looked at them as compromisers. In fact, they had this hatred toward one another that when King Cyrus gives the leaders of Israel to come back and reestablish the temple, the Samaritans ended up wanting to, "Hey, we're going to rebuild together." And they said, "No, you guys are not true Jews.

"You haven't been faithful, "so we cannot allow you to participate." So they ended up becoming more enemies. They ended up, the Samaritans actually come and fight against the building of the temple. So ever since then, they had this hatred toward one another. This hatred was so intense that when an average Jew would travel between Galilee and Jerusalem would be here, and Samaria would be somewhere in the middle, they would go an extra day around Samaria so they don't have to step foot in Samaria.

That's how much they hated each other. Well, this scene happens when Jesus is coming down to Jerusalem to prepare for a festival, him and his disciples, and they're just trying to settle in somewhere and get a place so that they can settle in and prepare. But when the Samaritans realized that they were going to Jerusalem, they prevented them, saying, "They can't come." So that's the context in which this takes place.

So clearly, Jesus is in the right. The disciples are in the right because this is the Messiah, this is the King. The Samaritans are the ones who compromised. The Samaritans are the one, in this context, who is preventing the Messiah, their King, to go to Jerusalem. So there is a clear right and wrong.

But the way that John and James responded is very revealing to us in verse 53. "But they did not receive him because he was traveling toward Jerusalem. And when his disciples, James and John, saw this, they said, 'Lord, do you want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?'" Now, first of all, it almost sounded like they've done this before.

He didn't say, "Oh, can you give me the power? Would you do this?" It almost sounded like they had some sort of power. So I don't know if they had the authority or the power to do this, but the way that they're asking was, "Do you want us to just get rid of these people?" "But he turned, Jesus turned, and rebuked them and said, 'You do not know what kind of spirit you are of.

For the Son of Man did not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them, and they went on to another village.'" So you can see why James and John was giving this title "The Sons of Thunder." Literally, if they were left the way they were, they would have become mass murderers.

And that's not an exaggeration because that's exactly what they were saying, what he was saying. Because we're in the right, and they're in the wrong. "Should judgment come now? Give me the permission. Let me bring the thunder down." But it's very telling what Jesus says. Yes, they are in the wrong.

This is the king of kings and lord of lords. They are in the wrong, but the way he rebukes them, he says, "You do not know the spirit, what kind of spirit you are of." When he says, "You do not know the spirit of what kind of spirit you are of," he's basically telling them, "You do not know me.

You know about what is right. You know about the law. You know what is wrong, but you do not know me. The Son of Man did not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them." See, if we're not careful, sometimes the most dangerous people are people who are on a mission to do what's right, to point out what's wrong, and to destroy.

I mean, think about the last 2,000 years of church history, how much destruction came from men who thought they were representing God. Think about the Crusades, how they were in a fight to reconquer the promised land. They went there and they slaughtered, burned down villages of the Muslims because they were in the right, because they're Christian, and their faith is the true faith, so they went and slaughtered them.

So to this day, that's a stain on the church, but at that time, they did this under the flag of the cross. You think about the Inquisition, how the church implemented anybody who was going to teach something wrong, and they would torture them in the name of Jesus for righteousness.

Remember the Salem witch hunts in the name of purity to catch demons. In fact, the Holocaust itself, if you study the genesis of the Holocaust, the Nazis used the Bible to say how they crucified our Messiah, and that they were the parasites, and all the problems in our society is because we have too many Jews, and we need to have a pure race, and in the genesis of it, they used the Bible.

They used righteousness. So much destruction, so many church divides happen. When we know the law, what is right, what is wrong, but do not understand the spirit of our Savior. He rebukes them because they did not know. If Jesus just kind of left them as they were, that's exactly what they probably would have gone and do.

All the authority and power that was given to the apostles, instead of bringing people to Christ, he would have crushed them because that's exactly what they did. Not only were they passionate, in the wrong way, they were both very ambitious people. You know the scripture constantly tells us that there was a constant argument among the disciples, who's the greatest?

It doesn't tell us who they were specifically. My guess is, I mean here it tells us, James and John for sure was in that group. My guess is Peter and Andrew. Maybe Andrew kind of took himself out of that. I don't know what happened to him. But my guess is that the conflict and the competition was primarily coming between those three.

And James and Andrew just kind of maybe took himself out of that because he wasn't part of the inner three. And because the three of them were chosen for special privilege. They were the ones who were given the access to the transfiguration. They were the ones where Jesus revealed to them when he was healing the synagogue daughter's illness.

They were the ones when he was at the Garden of Gethsemane, where he left the other disciples behind and the three of them come. In fact, in the list in Mark chapter 3, 16-17, it lists Peter, James and John, and then Andrew. In Luke's account, it says Peter, Andrew, James and John.

So it's clearly, it's evident that people understood that the three of them were the pillars. And in the three, in the three, the two of them are brothers. So my guess is these two brothers were kind of jockeying to compete with Peter, right? Because Peter seems like he has some in with Jesus.

Maybe he's the older guy. Maybe he has a certain kind of personality. But whatever it is, he's like, "We need to sit on the left and to the right." So I think the argument was happening between them. In fact, when they're described to us, it doesn't just say James and John here.

It says they're sons of Zebedee. So some of you guys may remember, Zebedee is their father. And when Jesus first calls them, they were fishing in their father's boat, Zebedee. And they believe that the reason why his name is mentioned is because Zebedee is a very prominent businessman, very successful businessman.

And as a result of that, he probably had connections and access that other people didn't have. So they're his children. That's why his name is mentioned, right? Peter was also successful, but I don't know if he came from a prominent family. James and John did. So in their worldly thinking, they thought, "Well, when Jesus gets on his throne, we have a leg up on Peter." And so this discussion is going on.

And in Mark 10, 33-41, it reveals to us what exactly was happening within them and why this needed to be addressed. In Mark 10, 33-41, Jesus again tells them about his suffering. In verse 33, "We are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death and will hand him over to the Gentiles.

They will mock him and spit on him and scourge him and kill him. And then three days later, he will rise again." Now imagine if you were the disciples and you left everything to follow Jesus, and then Jesus is headed toward Jerusalem, and he tells the disciples repeatedly, "I'm going to get captured.

They're going to torture me. Then I'm going to die. And I'm going to rise on the third day." You say, "What? What did he say? That doesn't make any sense. He's the king. We've seen him walk on waters. He completely stopped a storm. I mean, we've seen him do some incredible stuff.

He raised people from the dead. He's going to get captured and killed?" And then he said he was going to rise on the third day, and it's almost kind of like they never heard him because after Jesus dies, they don't even go check. In fact, the women go check, and they come back and say, "We saw him." Remember their response?

"Get out of here." All right, that's the modern-day version. That's basically what they said. "Get out of here. Nobody comes back from the dead." And they said, "Until we see him, we're not going to believe you." That's how dense they were. Jesus made it very clear. Not only did they not understand, not only did they not respond.

Look what they say, verse 35. This is right after Jesus said, "I'm going to be beaten, killed, and then resurrected." And then verse 35, "James and John, the two sons of Zebedee, came up to Jesus saying, 'Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask you.'" That's just like a father saying, "Hey, let's have a family meeting.

We'll gather together." Just came back from the hospital and found out that I have terminal cancer. I have three days to live. And then the son says, "Are you still going to give me that car?" My 21st birthday is coming up and you said you're going to give me that car.

Can you give me the red one? Can you imagine? I mean, Jesus is God, but he's also 100% human, and his response also must be human. If I heard that, I would have just smacked him and then explained to him why I smacked him. Did you hear what I just said?

Can you imagine the temptation that Jesus must have had to start over? You know what I mean? Get rid of these guys and start over. Maybe my choice wasn't good, right? Peter is like filled with pride. James and John are like competing with one another. Who's going to be the greatest?

What is going on? They completely ignore. I mean, they were so fixated on who's going to be the greatest, who's going to be the greatest, even after Jesus says, "I'm going to die," they don't get it. And Jesus calmly asked them, "What do you want me to do for you?" Can you imagine the restraint in those words?

Right? You just said, "I'm going to die. I'm going to get beaten. I'm going to die." And then they said, "Oh, can you give me the car?" Okay, what is it that you want? I mean, he's so patient. I mean, I think about the restraint for him not to lash out at them.

They said to him, "Grant that we may sit one on your right and one on your left in your glory." You notice here Peter is not mentioned here. Right? There's the inner three. And these brothers come. In fact, this was not an impromptu response. This was in Matthew 20, 20.

Their mom, Salome, came. They recruited their mom to speak on their behalf. And Salome was one of the mothers who followed along Jesus' ministry, cooking for them, caring for them. So they're recruiting their mom and saying, "Hey, Mom, you know, Peter seems like he has some sort of in with Jesus, but we have you.

Can you go talk to Jesus?" Anybody who's been in ministry for a while, we've all experienced that. We've had so many moms in the past. I mean, not--you guys are too old for that, but when I was a youth pastor, I would have moms come in and say, "Hey, can you have my daughter or son be in the praise team?" And it's like, "Oh, who's your daughter?" "Oh, he doesn't come to church yet." But if you give him that, he'll come.

Right? And so, "Let me think about that." I don't know how many times I've had-- and usually it's the mom. Dads, for whatever reason, don't come. It's the mom who comes and says, "Oh, if you just give a position. If you let my daughter-- she's so good at being an older sister, an older brother.

If you just give them and let them kind of lead and opportunity to teach, they'll come." It's like, "Are they Christian?" "Not yet, but if you let them-- give them an opportunity." You know what I mean? Just give them one chance. Well, this is planned out, and I don't know why they thought that this was the best time after Jesus said, "I'm going to die." And it's like, "Yeah, this is the time right now." He's vulnerable.

He's not thinking straight. Right? But for whatever reason, they come and they ask. And as a result of that, in verse 41, "So hearing this, the ten began to feel indignant with James and John." Right? And I'm pretty sure Peter was probably the angriest. And maybe when Peter said later, "You're going to deny me three times." "They will all deny you but me." He was probably pointing at James and John.

That's my thinking. Because he's already angered with these guys. These guys are talking about being left up to the right. "I'm going to die for you." Not like those guys. You can see the tension that's being built up because of this. And then verse 38, Jesus says, "You do not know what you are asking." Meaning, what you think of glory is not what glory is going to look like.

"You do not know what you are asking." "Are you able to drink the cup that I drink or be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?" And the arrogance of their response, just simply because they did not know. They said to him, "We are able." "We are able." They had no understanding where Jesus was going.

Even though he told them, "I'm going." When Jesus said he was going to the glory, what was he referring to? The cross. In John 17, verse 1, Jesus spoke to these things and lifting up his eyes to heaven, he said, "Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you." What is he referring to?

The cross. He said, "I'm going to go give my life, be crucified, bear the sins of the world. It is now time to glorify me." Not on the throne. Not what the angels sing in his praises, but at the cross. And it is at the cross, in his suffering, he was going to glorify the Father.

But that's not what they were thinking. What they were thinking is sitting on the left and to the right when he's on the throne and everybody's coming to him, honoring him and all the riches and blessing that comes with the King of kings and Lord of lords. That's what they were thinking.

That if we follow Jesus, we're going to have some of this. And Jesus said, "You do not know what you are asking for. Are you able?" And they say, "We are able." Think about the people. We're not even talking about 2,000 years. Just in the recent generation, the last 50 years or 100 years, the people that have brought the most glory to God.

And I'm not talking about mega church pastors. I'm not talking about people who've written books and living it up. And everywhere they go, they're treated like celebrities. I'm not talking about those people. I'm talking about people who gave their lives. Jim Elliot lived a short life. The reason why he is quoted universally among all denominations was not because of his cleverness.

It's not because of many books. It's because he gave his life preaching the gospel. He died early. And so he lives in glory because he gave his life. Look at Hudson Taylor, a young man who took his family and went into the inner parts of China where there was no foreigners and lived a difficult life to bring the gospel.

He lived in depression. He lived in difficulty physically, psychologically. To this day, we celebrate him. Not because he was so articulate, not because he said so many great things, but because he gave his life. We look at even people like Apostle Paul. When he described his life, he said, "You know, humanly speaking, if I wanted honor, he already had it.

He's a Roman citizen. He's a Pharisee among Pharisees. As to the law, I was perfect, but all of that stuff became rubbish in light of knowing the surpassing knowledge of Jesus Christ." He says his claim to fame was his suffering. And he lists all these apostles telling me that I'm not an apostle.

And he doesn't list all his credentials. He lists how much he suffered, how close he came to death over and over again. When he was commanding Epaphras, he doesn't say, "Epaphras comes from pedigree. Epaphras has a PhD. Epaphras planted so many churches." He says, "No, think how many times Epaphras came so close to death in order to bring the gospel to you." See, the glory that Jesus is referring to was leading to the cross.

The glory that James and John was referring to is honor, just like the rest of the world, just like everybody else, except you're using the channel of the church. How much of the corruption in the church happens for this very reason? How much of divisions within the church happens for this very reason?

Because we want recognition. We want people to understand and know and give us credit. And yet the glory that he's referring to is going to the cross. And Jesus said to them in verse 39, "The cup that I drink you shall drink, and you shall be baptized. And the baptism with which I am baptized," he says, "the suffering that he's referring to you will have because you're asking for it." And that's exactly what happens.

James is the first to give his life for the gospel. And then John wasn't technically martyred, but he lived. He was the last one to die, but he probably wished that he died earlier. James is the only one that's mentioned in the book of Acts as the one who was martyred for the faith.

He was the first one. He's the only one mentioned. Everybody else we know from church history. So we don't have a lot of information about James because he died early. He said, "You want glory? I'm going to the cross. Are you able to drink this cup of suffering?" He said, "I am." He said, "Okay." And so he dies.

Some people may say, "Well, John, he didn't die. What happened to him?" John, they tried to kill him. They put him in boiling oil. And he didn't die to their surprise. So when he came out, people were afraid. Remember when Apostle Paul, when he was bitten at that island by a scorpion, and they said he must have done something for him to be-- after surviving a shipwreck, and he's going to get bitten by a scorpion.

But when he didn't die, remember what they said? There must be some kind of anointing upon him. He must be a god, and they started worshipping him. That's what happened to John. Because he didn't die, they thought there was some sort of anointing upon him, and they were afraid if they killed him that some curse was going to come upon them.

So what ends up happening is they banish him to the island of Patmos where they sent political prisoners. Can you imagine the suffering that he went through to survive an oil burning? And it is while he was in this island he was writing the book of Revelation. Are you able to drink the cup of suffering?

And they said, "I do. We are." They said, "Okay, you'll get this, but this be sitting on the left or to the right. That's for my father to give." We don't know a whole lot about John or about James, but we know quite a bit about John because John writes more than any other apostle outside from Luke and Paul.

He writes the Gospel of John. He writes 1, 2, 3 John, and he writes the book of Revelation. If Jesus left them where they were at, the sons of thunder, in the name of righteousness, they would have just destroyed cities. They would have put everybody under judgment. They would have had the Word of God to stand behind.

But that's not how his life ends. In his epistles, 45 times in his writing he mentions the word truth. But in those same epistles, the word love is mentioned 80 times. And so I think many of you guys already know that Apostle John, one of the sons of thunder, isn't known at the end as a son of thunder, a man who had a temper.

He's known as what? The apostle of love. Of love. It's interesting because in 1 John 2, 15-16, you guys know this passage well. You probably memorized this if you ever memorized Scripture. "Do not love the world, nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the boastful pride of life is not from the Father, but is from the world." Now if you read this outside of the context of who wrote it, it's still a powerful verse reminding us of not loving the world.

But when you understand the personality behind, the karma behind the person that God used to write this text, the lust of the world, lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, and the boastful pride of life. Do you think maybe when John was writing this that he's convicted? The boastful pride of life.

Do you think he was thinking through how he spent so much time arguing with Peter and the other disciples? Do you think how he kind of manipulated and secured his mom to get an end to it so that he can be exalted and taste some of that glory? Do you think that John possibly while he was writing this had those thoughts in his mind?

Yes. Yes, the Holy Spirit is the author, but the Holy Spirit used the personalities and the experiences and the education of the writer to express what he desired for us. He's writing this from personal experience. And then in 1 John 4, 7-12, look at how many times, just in these 4 or 5 verses, how many times he uses the word love.

"Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and everyone who loves is born of God, and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love. By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him.

In this is love, not that we love God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought to love one another. No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us." Would you think that the guy who wrote this is the same guy who wanted to bring thunder and kill the Samaritans?

Who would think? So we ask the question, "What happened? What happened to him? How did that guy become this guy?" In fact, you know what's really interesting is John 19, 26, 27, as Jesus is hanging on the cross, He sees John, and He basically tells John to take care of his mom.

So this is what He says, "When Jesus saw his mother, and knowing that he's about to leave, and the disciple whom He loved standing nearby, He said to his mother, 'Woman, behold your son.' Then He said to the disciple, 'Behold your mother.' From that hour, the disciple took her into his own household." Now there's two things I want to highlight here.

Who's writing this? John. John is writing this. And John, as he is writing this, he describes himself as the disciple whom he loved standing nearby. He described himself. Now, we may look at that and say, "Man, this is arrogant. Like Jesus didn't love the other people." I'm the one that He loves.

More than you, suckers. Sucker is just added. It's not in the text. Sometimes we can read it and maybe say, "That's kind of arrogant." Or, "Did he only really love Jesus?" Or, "The other ones he didn't love." In fact, he uses that same description of the one Jesus loves in John 13, 23, John 22, John 21, 7, John 21, 20.

Repeatedly, over and over again, he describes himself in his own letter as the one that Jesus loved. If you don't know the context of why he's saying that, who is saying that, the drama that he went through, before his radical change, if he was to write this letter, he probably would have said, "John, the one who sits at the right hand of Jesus.

John, who stands for truth and righteousness and will not compromise. John, who is honored above the others because he didn't forsake Jesus. John, who is the head of the other disciples." That's probably what he may have written. But when he says, "John, the one loved by Jesus." Of all the things that he could have said of himself, the greatest thing that he used to describe himself is the one that is loved.

The one that is loved. Not the one that is exalted, not the one that stood for righteousness, just the one that is loved. Isn't that exactly what Jesus says when the disciples come back and we saw the heavens open and we cast out demons and praise God for this.

Jesus says, "Great, and you will see greater miracles, but be careful. Be careful. The greatest joy that you have is that your name is written in the book of life. That you are loved. Not because you did great things, not because you were talented, not because you had honor, not because you brought so many people to Christ, but the greatest thing that you have is you are loved.

You are loved. No one could take that away from you. The greatest thing that any sinner can have is the love. Radical change in John. What happened? What happened to him? What was the difference? He walked with Jesus for three years. What happened? The cross was not in the picture.

They didn't understand the cross. So even when Jesus talked about the cross, they heard it and they said they were afraid to ask Him because they kept on asking dumb questions and Jesus kept on rebuking them. So they just kind of filed it away because they didn't understand the cross.

That when He said He was going to head to glory, all they saw was Him sitting on the throne. But the path to this throne was this cross. How often do we even as we sing and memorize scripture is the cross not at the center? The greatest place of life, the greatest connection with Christ, the greatest place of glory, the greatest place where we recognize who God is, is at the cross.

So it makes absolutely no sense for any Christian, any pastor, any missionary, any Christian, to have the throne. You know, if I follow Jesus, He's going to take care of my children, pay my bills, get a better job, have a great family, and then when that doesn't come true, where is God?

And the question that He will ask is, "Where is the cross?" Didn't I tell you, "He who finds his life will lose it"? Didn't I tell you that? Didn't I tell you that if you want to come after me, you must pick up your cross and deny yourself? Didn't I tell you that?

Didn't you see the examples of the disciples? Didn't you see the examples of the apostles? That if you want to find true life, you must first be crucified with Christ. You're not going to find life through Christ. You're going to find life in Christ, and the Christ of the cross.

How much of our frustration comes is because we are looking past the cross and looking at the throne. That we want our version of the left or to the right. For ourselves, for our children, for our family. And how much of our frustration isn't because we're following Christ. How much of our frustration is coming because we're following the Christ that John and James thought.

It wasn't until they encountered the resurrected Christ. And they realized what Jesus said. "He who believes in me, even when he dies, shall live." It wasn't until he encountered the resurrected Christ and the Holy Spirit comes upon them and they realize their life isn't central. In John 12, 24 to 25, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone.

But if it dies, it bears much fruit. He who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it to life eternal." Galatians 2, 20. Paul says, "I have been crucified with Christ." Is that just Paul's testimony? Is that just because he's an apostle?

No, Jesus said to all of us, "True life is found when we pick up our own cross and follow the path that he went. It is no longer I who live." Can we say that? Is that really our testimony? Are we finding a different version of life through Christ?

Or is it really Christ? It is no longer I who live. He didn't come to simply make us a better version of ourselves. He didn't come to save us from family problems so that we can have a better security in retirement. I have been crucified. He completely said, "Your old self dies." Whatever ambition, hope, joy that you may have found outside of Christ, he says, "They're to die, but Christ lives in me.

In the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself up for me." So much of our struggle is reflected in James and John. Even as we walk with Christ, even as we serve, even as we teach, even as we lead, we have our eyes on the throne to the left or to the right.

What Christ called us to do is to die. Die. First die. First struggle with your flesh. First put it to death. That all our ambition, my reputation, my desire, my security, my wanting, my opinions, first die. That a new life may be established in Christ, in faith. Because until then, you will see the joy in other people.

You will be able to testify about the testimonies of other people, but it will never become your testimony. Jesus said, "I have come to give life, and to give this life abundantly." And this life comes if we follow him, pick up our own cross, deny ourselves, that he may be exalted.

I pray that that may be our passion and our joy, and it would be our pursuit. That the people who have known us in the past will meet us and say, "What happened to you?" And when they ask us that question, we can point to Christ. Let's pray. Gracious and loving Christ, we love you.

We want to love you more. You know how easily distracted we are. You know how difficult it is sometimes for us to detect sin and pride in us. I pray that your word would truly judge the thoughts and intentions of our heart. That our life, Lord God, may be from you and you alone.

Lord, we want the world to know that there is hope. As you've given us a mission, Lord God, to be the light, to be the salt of this earth, that we would not sweep that under the rug. And as Paul was crucified, I pray that you would challenge us to know what that means for us.

That we may also be crucified. That our old self is buried. That only the new self in Christ and faith is what lives. We thank you for your patience. We thank you for answered prayer. And may Christ and Christ alone receive the glory of your suffering. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.

Let's all stand up for the closing praise. My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but holy lean on Jesus' name. Oh Christ, a solid rock I stand. All other ground is sinking sand. All other ground is sinking sand.

When darkness fills His loving face, my last thought is a changing grace. In every highest stormy day, the Savior holds me in the way. Oh Christ, a solid rock I stand. All other ground is sinking sand. All other ground is sinking sand. This earth is covered in His blood.

Support me in the overwhelming flood. Word all around my soul is wet. Even if all my hope could stay. Oh Christ, a solid rock I stand. All other ground is sinking sand. All other ground is sinking sand. When He shall come, when He shall come, there's trumpet sound. Oh, hear the angels trusting His righteousness alone.

Oh, let's just have a moment of grace. Oh, Christ, a solid rock I stand. All other ground is sinking sand. All other ground is sinking sand. Oh, Christ, a solid rock I stand. All other ground is sinking sand. Now the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the fellowship and the indwelling and the interceding of the Holy Spirit and the deep, deep love of God who did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all.

Help us, Lord God, that we would build upon Him That we would build upon these foundations. That when the storms comes in our life, that we would not lose our labor. All that we have hope for, all that we have labored for, all that we have sacrificed for, help us Lord God to build upon the foundation of Christ.

That he would be our foundation, that he would be our love, that he would be our pursuit. That he would be our joy, that he would be our hope. And that our primary life and pursuit and energy and finances, that we would all invest to love you with all our hearts, with all our soul, with all our strength, with all our might, for the sake of your name.

Send us that we may be the aroma of Christ wherever we go. In Jesus name we pray, amen. (soft music) ♪ Jesus sent his son ♪ ♪ They called him Jesus ♪ ♪ He came to love ♪ ♪ He led for death ♪ ♪ He lived and died ♪ ♪ By my pardon ♪ ♪ An empty grave is there to ♪ ♪ Save your lips ♪ ♪ 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 ♪ (soft music) (people chattering) (soft music) (people chattering) (soft music) (people chattering) you