David Stockton 4/11/21 David Stockton 4/11/21

The Beatitudes

This is part of our year-long commitment and lifelong commitment to really try and get a vision for the righteousness of God. Last year, and all of our lives, but last year became very, very prominent that…

Series: The Sermon on the Mount

April 11, 2021 - David Stockton

This is part of our year-long commitment and lifelong commitment to really try and get a vision for the righteousness of God. Last year, and all of our lives, but last year became very, very prominent that there were a lot of different visions about what is righteousness that will produce justice. They were coming from left sides, right sides, top sides, down sides. There are all these different basic gospels — in a lot of ways — these ideologies that were being presented and claiming to have Christ on their side.

So we heard all of that. So we committed the first of this year. We fasted for twenty-one days to say, “God, we want to have a vision for righteousness that comes straight from you. And we want to have a hunger for it.” Because we know that those who hunger and thirst for righteousness will be filled. So we want to have a hunger for it. So we’ve stayed hungry. We’re still hungry. And we’re really trying to figure out what God’s view of righteousness in our day and age is. So that’s why we’re going to the Sermon on the Mount.

As we’re unpacking this, and as you’re dealing with this in your own relationships — I mean, I know of a marriage that, basically one of the spouses said, “If you don’t come to my point of view on this ideology, our marriage is over.” We have people in the church that have left us because they cannot track with us and stay in the same direction that we’re headed as far as what we’re teaching coming from the scriptures.

You guys are dealing with this in your own families, your own communities. This is everywhere and there’s lots of division, there’s lots of challenge, there’s lots of confusion. So one of the things we’re going to do is just say, “Hey, Jesus, we just want to hear from you. Nothing else will do. Nothing else will do.”

It’s so sweet to trust in Jesus and take him at his word. And it’s very hard to do these days. But that song will always be true. It is so sweet to just say, “Okay, Jesus, what’s going on inside me is killing me. What’s going on around me is killing me. But I’m just going to sit here and take you at your word.”

So that’s what we’re going to try and do. We’re going to try to put ourself in that space going into the Sermon on the Mount. I need to give us as a church a couple of tools that have been very helpful for me. I’m hoping they’ll be helpful for you as you process your own concept of the righteousness of God, but also as you interact with others who are doing that as well.

The first one is Weslyan quadrilateral. You’ve heard me mention it before. If you’ve been through our Explore class I bring out there too. But I think this is very, very important. This is not super ancient. This is John Wesley, so it’s not that long ago. But I love what he did. Most of the theologians that came before him said, “Scripture, tradition and reason,” but he actually added “experience” and I think that’s important for us today.

The way that this goes down is super important. As you’re trying to figure out what truth is, what is important, what is valuable, what is good, what is right, all of those things. This is the way that Wesley said you come to it. You start with the scripture. The scripture is at the bottom, but it’s at the bottom because that’s the foundation. That is the starting point. Anything you think or feel or anything that comes to you, you first apply the scripture to it and see if it jives or not. Scripture is the foundation. That has got to be the beginning. Because there are lots of ideas. I mean, basically, we’ve had six thousand years of recorded human thought. Right? For six thousand years people have been writing down, “I think this.” And it’s led to a lot of different religions, a lot of different philosophies, a lot of different ideas.

So how can we say that we stand in the truth? First of all, we have the Spirit of God. God didn’t leave it up to us to figure out, but he sent his Spirit to guide us into all truth. But second he’s given us all these type of things to help us process this stuff out.

So you’ve got scripture, first and foremost. And in this church, you’ve heard it over and over again, we’re going to be about scripture. The Old Testament. The New Testament. The life of Jesus. The words of Jesus. The best thing you can do if you’re really trying to figure out what you should fight for or not fight for, maybe more importantly, is start with the words of Jesus, see how it’s unpacked by the epistles and the rest of the New Testament, and then look for concrete pictures that basically teach it in the Old Testament as well. It’s a good way to use the scriptures.

So first of all scriptures. But then we have tradition. So if it passes the scripture test, then you go to the tradition test. The tradition test is basically, we don’t like that word tradition because we’re Americans and we got rid of the British. Sorry if you’re British. But we don’t like tradition. But tradition, think of it more in the sense of the community. Basically we have a community of faith right here, Living Streams Church. But we’re just one tiny, little dot in the grand community of Christ.

So, first of all, we have to start with the community. We have to be able to test all of these ideas with the community that God has placed us in. Not only that, but we have to add to it the community that has come before us. Historic Christianity is so important. We are not the first people to ever face these things. The questions that you have in your heart, there have been so many Christians that have had those questions way before you. Some of them have done some really good work in helping us know what we should do when we face these things.

So that’s the next phase. So scripture first and foremost. It passes that test, then it’s got to go through the historic Christianity perspective and your own community perspective. After that, then you go to reason. God gave you a brain. He gave us sociology. He gave us science. He gave us psychology. These studies that help us understand what is good and right and what isn’t at all.

Like I said in my weekly email, I’m praying that right now, just like the sexual revolution of the sixties, where everyone thought it’s really important to get sex outside of that tiny, narrow space of marriage and let sex be enjoyed by everybody, even if they’re not married — that right there. Sociology, psychology. If you apply those reasonable sciences to that decision and what happened in America, you can see the results of those things. STD’s. Abortion. Adoption. Foster care. You can look at the sciences and you can see the result of some of these things.

I’ve been praying that, just like that sexual revolution created this great Jesus Movement in the 70’s — I’m praying that whatever we’re going through in this sexual confusion of today will give rise to a beautiful Jesus Movement, as well, and that the Church will do really, really well in this time. She’ll be beautiful. She’ll be redemptive. She’ll be kind. And she’ll be faithful. We’ll get to see some really cool things happen. I think we already seeing some of the stuff, by the way. There’s a hunger for the righteousness in God, which is awesome.

Then the last one is experience. It’s at the top, but that doesn’t mean it’s the most important. It’s the smallest one. And yet, Wesley was willing to add experience. The theologians before him were like, “Forget about experience. People are crazy. You can’t add experience because then they’ll get all crazy and get Joseph Smith and things like that.”

But at the same time, he was saying, “But, I don’t think we can just pretend like we don’t have experiences.” So he added experience. And I think it’s a very important thing. But again, we have to remember that it’s the smallest and it’s the last.

Now experience can lead us to the scriptures and to tradition and all those things. But we have to put experience in its place. What our culture is trying to tell us today is that experience is the foundation. Our thoughts and our feelings are the way to truth. Cold Play said it best, “Science and progress do not speak as loud as my heart.” That is the cry of the post-modern, post-Christian, progressive-Christianity. I’m not saying progressive in the sense of politics. I’m saying in the sense of theology. I really feel like they’re making experience way too important to the understanding of truth. I don’t think we should get rid of experience. I think it’s valid and important, but it has to be submitted to those other things.

So that’s a little bit of what we’re applying as we go through this. The second thing is something I learned in theology by Irv Bredlinger, who was my theology professor in Bible school. This was interesting. I’m actually supposed to draw two of these circles, I realized after first service. So you’re going to have to do a little extra work.

Basically, he drew one circle where the thought quadrant, the opinions quadrant, the beliefs quadrant and the dogma quadrant were all giant circles. There was very thin space between all of them. He said this is an immature Christian. This is someone whose dogma is so big, everything they’ve ever believed is so important they’ve got to fight everybody about it. We’ve all probably been through phases like this, where we’re willing to fight about anything and everything instead of understanding that some of what we’re calling dogma — core beliefs —should actually be a little bit more in the thought and feeling realm; or maybe the opinion realm, or maybe the belief realm, but not necessarily things we should be telling our spouse, “It’s over between us.”

There’s a challenge, there’s a maturing that needs to happen where we begin to understand what we should fight about and what we shouldn’t fight about. That’s an important maturing process, as Christians, that we’re going through. It feels a lot like deconstruction. It feels a lot like you’re losing your faith; but you might actually just be losing some stuff that you think was belief, but it was really just more opinion.

So I think it’s important we go through that process. And you don’t have the choice, those of you who are going through this in your family dynamic. You are going through this process, and trying to figure out where are the lines that I need to fight and avoid, and where are the lines that I can continue to live with? And I think it’s important for us to do this as Christians. Jesus never said it would be easy for us to walk this out. That’s a little heady stuff for you.

Last year, more than ever, many of our thoughts, feelings and political opinions became religious beliefs and dogmas. We’re continuing to see friends, families, marriages and church communities going through painful divisions because of humanistic and demonic ideas claiming to have the high moral ground. I’m not saying there’s no right and wrong. I’m not saying there are not things we should divide over. But I do think we need to make very sure we are diligently working to have Jesus’ vision for righteousness, not a man-made or devil-made ideology.

Anybody with me? Paul the Apostle, who wrote long ago, not in America, but somehow knows exactly what we’re thinking, said this to his young mentoree in 2 Timothy 4:2-5:

Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction. For the time will come…

He could have said “in 2021,” but he said:

…when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.

So is the Bible outdated and irrelevant, or does that seem to really resonate and hit home? I need some encouragement this morning. You think this is easy? I am so alone up here! Where is everybody at? Nobody. You’re all there. Come on. Let’s do this together. Or, if you’re like, “No! That doesn’t sound right,” say that! I’m totally fine with that. I mean, maybe. We’ll see. But no. I want to hear from you guys, for sure. This is important stuff.

With that being said, with all the swirling winds of ideologies around us, we as a church fasted and prayed, committed ourselves to seek first Jesus’ kingdom and his righteousness. We believe Jesus’ way is the way to produce true justice and the greatest freedom and flourishing in this life. So we turn our attention for the next few months to the Sermon on the Mount.

In this sermon Jesus is creating distinction between his way and the religious ideologies of his day. Did you hear that? As you read this, Jesus is intentionally saying, “You have heard it said…but I say.” He’s creating distinction between the way of Jesus and all the other political and religious ideologies of his day. And that’s what we’re trying to do. That’s what we want to do. That’s what we have the Spirit of God helping us to do as we go through this.

This is Jesus’ manifesto — his public declaration of the motives, values and intentions of his kingdom. These are awesome, awesome words. Super awesome. As we go into this, there are a few things that have been helpful to keep in mind. I know I’m unpacking a lot of things right here, but I’m kind of front-loading this because I’m going to borrow a lot of this stuff as we go further into this sermon. I think it’s really important, before we jump in, to get some framework for this.

Tim Keller gives good framework when he says, when you think of the way of Jesus as opposed to all the other ways or gospels or whatever views of righteousness, he said you’ve got to think of it as the inside out kingdom and the upside down kingdom. As Americans we have a very consumeristic, individualistic, success-oriented economy. We really look at the external. How do they dress? How do they look? What car do they drive? What house do they live in? Are they beautiful or not beautiful? And we esteem and give credit to so many external things. And we really value those things.

What Jesus is trying to put forth, according to Tim Keller, is that Jesus’ kingdom is much more inside out than outside in. So Jesus really is more interested in what’s happening inside your soul than what’s coming out, if that makes sense.

Then the upside down kingdom. We look at people at the top of their game, so to speak, the top of their industry, so to speak, the top of all of these things. We look at them and think, “Wow, they are blessed! God has been good to them. Wow. They should be able to speak into our lives and speak into our culture. We should learn from them.”

But Jesus has an upside down kingdom. Whereas you read, you just continually hear that. No, those people, that’s fine. He doesn’t have a problem with them. But the real goal, the real beauty are those who are down and out, those who society just kind of passes right over and you might not even notice at all. Those are the ones that God is paying attention to. Those are the ones that will have the best perspective on the kingdom of heaven. That’s wild stuff right there.

That’s why a lot of you, when you go on a missions trip to a foreign place and you see people who are extremely poor and yet they have so much joy, you go, “Whoa! I’ve got some thinking to do.” Yeah. Right. It’s proof of what Jesus is trying to teach in the Sermon on the Mount. So I love that.

Anytime you’re like, “This is is so…I don’t get it.” Inside out. Upside down. Everybody say it. It’s because you’re going to get hit with stuff and you’re going to be like, “Ugh! What?” Inside out. Upside down. Thank you, Tim Keller.

There’s a guy named Jonathan Pennington who has spent like five years just trying to unpack and understand how to interpret the Beatitudes. And he had the audacity, as I’m trying to do this, he had the audacity to say to me (through a podcast), “After all my efforts, I don’t feel like I’ve ever found anything that really does it.” I was like, “You jerk. How am I supposed to feel good about what I’m doing?” Five years. And these guys are brilliant. Anyway, it always gives me a little hope, because if he can’t get it right, maybe I’ll get it right just by chance, you know?

But anyway, he says that the way of Jesus, as you go through the Sermon on the Mount, the way of Jesus looks a lot like a cross. That’s basically what he said. He said the way of Jesus is very low and very cross-shaped. So when you’re facing a decision or facing like, “I don’t know what is right or what is true. Jesus, what’s your way in all of this?” Whatever looks the lowest and the most like a cross, that’s probably the way of Jesus.

It is true. That’s basically what Jesus was teaching. So inside out. Upside down. Low. And like a cross. Those are going to be helpful things for us. And lastly, Jesus finishes the Sermon on the Mount with three analogies that I think are important as we go back to try and unpack. The three analogies are the small gate and narrow road versus the broad way to destruction. So the way of Jesus is small and narrow and few that find it, as opposed to the not way of Jesus is broad. It’s basically like anything you want to do. There are lots of options. There isn’t even a gate. It’s just like, zoom, go for it. But the way of Jesus is small and narrow and few find it. So you have that analogy.

You also have the prophet and the false prophet. The prophets both look like fruitful trees. They both bear fruit. But the false prophet’s fruit is bad. And the good prophet’s fruit is good. Again, we talked about how it takes time. There’s nothing instantaneous in this. There are counterfeits. It’s tricky. The way of Jesus — how do you know? It actually produces freedom and human flourishing — in time. It produces the peaceable fruit of righteousness. So that’s how we can judge between which way is true. Whatever the fruit that is produced from those things.

The last thing is, one is the rock and one is the sand. Right?

The wise man builds his house on the rock — that which has withstood the test of time. It doesn’t matter what the wind does. It doesn’t matter what the waves do. It doesn’t matter what the tide brings in. It’s solid. That’s where you build your house.

Whereas, you have the sand — which is this picture of here today, gone tomorrow. It’s whatever the tide brings in. It’s whatever’s new. It’s whatever’s temporary. It’s whatever fad there might be. If you build your house on those type of things, you’re going to get washed away.

So these are the analogies. These are the pictures we have from Jesus and from some others, to help us now as we get into this to understand and not get lost as we go to the Sermon on the Mounts. Matthew 5:1:

Now when Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, 2 and he began to teach them.

He’s teaching. It’s a sermon.

He said:
3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit,
    for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4 Blessed are those who mourn,
    for they will be comforted.
5 Blessed are the meek,
    for they will inherit the earth.
6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
    for they will be filled.
7 Blessed are the merciful,
    for they will be shown mercy.
8 Blessed are the pure in heart,
    for they will see God.
9 Blessed are the peacemakers,
    for they will be called children of God.
10 Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,
    for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
11 “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. 12 Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

And if you’ll do me a favor, I’m going to read you the very last verse after the Sermon on the Mount is concluded. Matthew 7:28:

28 When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, 29 because he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law.

So here we have very famous text, very famous passage. It’s very sermon-like. It has a rhythm to it. It’s almost poetic the way it rolls out. Jesus is on the mountainside, so you got to think maybe, like, hippies out there. Kind of out in the country. Small town. You’ve got to think not a lot of education in these people that he’s teaching. There’s nothing about it that is that special except that Jesus has been going around Galilee, this little sea in Israel. And he’s been going around from village to village, small village to small village. He would show up there and he would do some ministry. He would talk to some people and find out what they were struggling with. He would minister truth. He would minister the power of the Spirit. He would bring some healings to them. Then he would proclaim to them that the kingdom of God has come. It is here. That God is for them. These people were so amazed by all he was doing, that every once in a while when Jesus would go out, whole crowds would gather around to see what he would do and hear what he would say.

In this one instance, he sits on the side of a hill. He’s already gathered disciples. He’s got disciples. At this point it is tricky. It could be twelve, but it’s probably more than that; because it was later on in another teaching that Jesus did, where his whole congregation got whittled down to twelve because it was very hard what he was teaching. But here in this moment, there’s probably a lot more than just twelve disciples — people were saying, “We want to be with Jesus.” And then there’s the crowds that are gathering, looking for a miracle or something. And he sits down and he starts to teach these people.

Now these people are not American. Right? Track with me here. I’m not trying to be racist or anything like this. I’m trying to give us context. These people are not American. They didn’t grow up with the internet. They’re not white. They’re not black. Could be a little sprinkling in there. Who knows? But they are jewish. And they are small-town. They are uneducated. They don’t have a lot going for them. They’re barely scraping to get by. They are deep, deep under Roman domination, even in their home town. They can’t do anything without Rome really telling them what to do. The taxes are brutal — to where they can never really gain any ground.

Not only that, but they are deep, deep under religious, kind of hierarchical oppression. The religious leaders of that day have convinced everybody of what is good and right and true. And it looks a lot like a Pharisee. And anyone who doesn’t look a lot like a Pharisee is worthless and wrong and God doesn’t really love them. So they’re wrestling with that. And these guys are also at the bottom of whatever kind of caste system was there, these men and women out there on the side of a hill listening to a rabbi that was kind of a wanna-be at this point. Yet, as he speaks to them, he speaks in such a peculiar way, such a simple way, but such a different way, that, when they heard his words, they were amazed.

As we read through this sermon, it’s going to be interesting. Because we’re going to read through this sermon and there are times when it’s just like, What? That’s too heavy. That’s too narrow. There’s no way. What? Jesus? Come on! It’s going to be rough. But we’ve got to remember to hear it the way they heard it. When they heard it, their response was, “This is awesome! This is awesome!” Not only that, but they’re like, “This sounds so different from what I’ve heard all my life from the religious leaders. This feels like it has authority to it. This feels like it has substance to it. This sounds like something I can trust in.”

So, as we read through this, no matter what, we’re going to hit some passages and you’re going to be like, “Oh, no! What? Brutal.” Even when you just hear the words, “Blessed are the poor in spirit,” the truth is, as Americans, we think of times maybe that we were poor in spirit, but I think it’s not natural for us to think Jesus is talking to us. Whereas, the people he’s talking to in that day, when he said, “poor in spirit,” they were like, “Oh, he’s talking about me? He’s calling me blessed?” That’s what they did. That’s how it hit them. And they were so encouraged by it. So we’ve got to keep that frame of reference as we go through this, to let the Sermon on the Mount create that in us.

The second thing we’ve got to remember is you go through here just like Jesus said, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for this is coming your way. Blessed are those who mourn, because this is coming your way.” He keeps reminding them that, if they will diligently do the way of Jesus, it will produce really great things. There will be rewards. Jesus is not afraid to use the word reward. He actually says it. He says, “When they do all kinds of evil against you because of me, rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven.”

So as you go through the sermon, you’re going to see the juxtaposition of the now life and the next life. Jesus is not afraid to say that a lot of the things that you do today are going to affect your reality in heaven. There’s lots of verses here to back this up. He says, “Rejoice and be glad. Great is your reward in heaven.” He talks about, “If you do this, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.” “Truly, I tell you they have received their reward in full.” They’ve received their reward in this life, which means they’re going to get anything in the next life. “Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.” “Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full in this life.” They’re not getting what’s next. “He sees what is done in secret will reward you.” “But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven.” There’s a whole big, long part of the sermon where Jesus is talking about storing up treasures in heaven where moth and rust can’t get to it.

The next life vs. now life is a consistent theme in here. I think it’s important for us to understand that, for Jesus, the priority was the next life. It says about Jesus that it was for the joy set before him that he endured the cross. So everything you endure, everything you go through now that is challenging or hard, actually is an opportunity to invest in the next life.

There’s this guy, Francis Chan, he’s a great preacher and he actually has a long rope. I don’t have a long rope so you’ve just got to think about the long rope in my hand here. It’s a huge rope that goes from that wall all the way to that wall. You know, and I can fling it. You see it? He had a rope. I can’t figure out how to get a long rope. But basically like a long tug-of-war rope. He was trying to express to everybody like eternity is this rope but forever. So God is eternal. Right? God has no beginning so you can go back as far as you want with this rope this way and you’ll never get to the beginning of God. And God has no end, so you can go as far you want that way and you’ll never get to the end of God.

But he said, for us, even though sometimes in songs we use the word eternity about us — we’re not eternal. We’re not eternal because you can go back to our beginning. Right? We had a beginning. Now, we are everlasting. We have no end. And that is true. But what Francis Chan was trying to illustrate — he took a Sharpie and drew a black line on the rope. He was like, “See this? This is your now life. See this? That’s your next life.” And this is why Jesus says, “Why would you sell your soul to gain something in the now life and lose it for the next life?”

Or in the sermon he says, “Why would you keep your eyes if they’re causing you to stumble? Instead, cut out your eye in this life so that in the next life you’ll make it and you’ll have all you need.”

He’s talking about the now life or the next life. This is a little weird for us especially because there’s like crypto-currency out there right now! Right? It’s like investment time is good right now. And Jesus is not saying, “You shouldn’t invest and be wise in this life.” But he was saying, “You’ve got to make sure that you are investing in the next life, more so. More time, attention, resource, energy be given to the investment in the next life than in this life. Otherwise, you are a fool building your house on the sand. Otherwise, you are a false prophet that are going to wish you had some good fruit in the next life, but you’re not going to have any. Otherwise, you’re going to find yourself on a broad way leading to destruction, instead of the narrow way.

We’ve got to figure out the now life vs. the next life concept. This is going to come up a bunch in the Sermon on the Mount. This is a motivation and Jesus isn’t afraid to say it. Now I’m not saying the kingdom of heaven hasn’t come and isn’t in this life. We do get appetizers in this life. But the real meal is coming. And Jesus said that that’s really important that you think about investing and preparing for that.

That also was makes the Beatitudes so true and right and good, if we can see them from that perspective. Because Jesus is not lying or just trying to make people who are poor in spirit feel better. He’s really trying to understand that, when you’re poor in spirit, when you’re broken down, when you feel alone and you feel isolated, and you feel like God is so far from you, in those moments you have such an opportunity to gain something that’s everlasting. That’s why you’re blessed.

It’s not because Christianity is some sort of masichistic, weird thing, like, “Oh yeah, look, I’m bleeding. Isn’t that awesome?” No. Jesus is trying to say that, really, you’ve got to see these things differently. You are blessed with an opportunity to invest in what’s next, to receive the kingdom. To see God. To receive the comfort of God. To receive the reward he has for you. You are so blessed when you’re in those moments, because God’s attention is on you. God’s focus is on you. God’s presence is so near to the broken-hearted.

That’s why you’re blessed. That’s why you’re flourishing in these moments. That’s why you’re standing in the right place when you’re standing with the poor in spirit, or when you’re poor in spirit yourself. Because, right there in that moment, the kingdom of heaven has never been closer.

Ultimately, when you read these Beatitudes, Jesus is just describing himself. Right? Jesus is declaring something that he knows and he believes and he walked out. Blessed am I when I am poor in spirit because he who knew no sin, he who is seated at the throne of God became sin and entered our world. He became poor in spirit because he knew that there was a blessing there. There was an opportunity to gain you and I forevermore. He became the person who mourned and wept. I mean Jesus is describing himself. Jesus is describing the way that he walked so that we could follow him in this way, in this upside down, inside out blessing that he offers to us.

Now, to finish, I rewrote the Beatitudes, even though Pennington told me that I shouldn’t. He didn’t say that. But I just felt like this was the way this was speaking to me. And I felt that this is the way the Beatitudes kind of speak to our moment in time. So I’m going to read through this. You can follow along and maybe one of these things will stand out to you. Maybe more than one. That’s fine. But here’s what I kind of feel like Jesus is trying to say to us today at Living Streams with the Beatitudes.

When you’re poor in spirit, rejoice with a quiet confidence because the kingdom of heaven is made up of people who know what it means to be poor in spirit.
When you’re in mourning (because of broken relationships, because of battles within, whatever you might be going through) rejoice with a quiet confidence because God is very near to the broken hearted, and he himself will make sure that you are comforted.
When you’re humble, rejoice with a quiet confidence, because it’s only a matter of time until you get to experience God lifting you up in this life.
When the injustice in the world causes you to feel desperate for righteousness, rejoice with a quiet confidence because God is going to make sure you have a front row seat when he rids the world of all wickedness and restores everything as if evil never existed.
When you see heartbreaking situations and are compelled to give mercy, rejoice with a quiet confidence, because God will be happy to show you mercy when you need it.
When you deny yourself and miss out on the things in this life, rejoice with a quiet confidence, because God’s way will be more clear to you because of your sacrifice.
When anger and hatred are escalating, but you choose to speak peacefully to defuse the situation, rejoice with a quiet confidence because God will claim you as his own forevermore.
When you do the right thing and it costs you friendships, comfort, finances, and even your health or safety, rejoice with a quiet confidence, because God is going to repay you tenfold with heavenly treasures which cannot spoil or depreciate.
When your love for Jesus causes you to lose out or be lied about, rejoice with a quiet confidence, because God is keeping track and will reward you just like he rewarded the prophets of old.

Let’s pray:

Jesus, we want to see things the way you do. We want to live into the kingdom. We want to invest in the kingdom. We want to establish your kingdom here. I thank you, Jesus, that you came and suffered so much and lost so much and denied yourself so much, so that you could show us the way.
And Lord, I pray that we would fall in love with you all over again, that we’d fall in love with your way, and that you really would use our lives, and even our pain and struggle to pave the way for others to know your love. Help us to be able to stand in this narrow way, to walk this narrow road and love those who are not.
I thank you for your Spirit that you promised to fill us with to empower us to walk in this way. I thank you for your blood which cleanses us each and every time we fall or fail. I really pray that we would be people that can find your way. And I pray that this would be a church that has so many rewards in heaven because of each and every sacrifice they make here. We really believe that you are a rewarder of those who diligently seek you, so help us keep seeking you.
I pray for those who are battling, Lord, those who are really mourning, poor in spirit, because of internal struggles or external struggles, Lord. I pray that you would really help them get to a place where they can just trust you and take you at your word, and you would hold them, Lord, and you would go with them and you’d lead them to life, Lord.
For those who have been away for a long time but know they need to come back right now, Lord, I pray that they would know that you are a Father who receives them with a robe and a ring, and they can come back any time. We love you, Jesus. We thank you for your word. Amen.

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Guest User 11/17/19 Guest User 11/17/19

The Servant Heart

David Stockton
Series: A Beautiful Heart

Good morning. It’s good to be with you guys. Thanks for coming.

We have a special announcement today. We’ve been praying for a while that the Lord would give us vision and direction for Living Streams. And something that’s come up time and time again and has really landed deep in our hearts—and it’s broader than just me, it’s our whole team—we really feel like the Lord is calling us to be a “sending” church.

We’ve been trying to figure out what that means. We’ve been trying to discuss it, pray for it, prepare for it, lean in to it. We finally arrived last year, at some point, at a goal that we want to send out fifty long-term missionaries by 2025. Long term meaning about a year or so, a year or more. We believe in short-term mission trips and all the experiences that can happen, but we really felt the Lord was wanting us to be a place where we cultivate missionaries—to be a sending church in that regard.

We’ve been able to do that. On the organizational side we’ve been planning, preparing, trying to set aside budget and all of that for that. At the same time, it’s been for me to get to know people, to sit with people and for them to say, “We just have this calling or stirring in our hearts about missions.” Or, “We’ve really been thinking about this place int he world a lot. Do you know anything about that?” And I would be like, “Ha ha. I know all about that.”

No, I don’t creep people out too much. But this is Brandon and Kari Gurney. Brandon and Kari have been around Living Streams for a while, been in the internship and on staff for a while, and have served us really well. And both of them, before they were Brandon and Kari, they were just Brandon…and Kari. They both had a little stirring for missions, and it’s sort of what brought them together in some ways as well.

But they’re feeling like it’s time. So we are going to be sending them out as missionaries. Why don’t you tell us a little bit about what’s going on?

Brandon:

Like David said (I’m a little sick so forgive my voice), Kari and I are going to be launching in 2020 into Cuenca, Ecuador. That’s a place that we’ve had some connections as a church from the last few years We’re going to specifically be working with their worship department and communications, helping them develop some online ministry to reach out to the surrounding areas that are sort of inaccessible to the gospel but there’s internet still there.

We’ll also be working with some Venezuelan refugees, and a brand new college ministry that a church down in Cuenca is going to be launching. So if you want to learn a little bit more about what we’re doing, how you can support us, how you can partner with us and pray for us, check out the address that’s on the screen right now: gurneysglobal.org. And we’ll also be hanging out in the courtyard afterwards so you can learn a little more about what we’re doing and how you can pray for us too.

David:

It’s a beautiful thing and it’s a little difficult thing too; because these two are a real treasure. They’ve served us really well. I’ve gotten really close to Brandon, in particular. We’ve been able to see him do some really neat things. Kari’s been growing in that as well and been able to bring a real sweetness. So, it’s funny because I’v been praying to the Lord that we’d get to send all the junkers out, but instead we’ve been having to send out the cream of the crop. You know we’ve got the Fritz family over in Italy, serving away. And I’ve been meeting with other families. This one’s hard for me, for sure. But let’s pray for them and bless them, as they’ve served us well. We’re happy to let them go and bless them as they go serve the body of Christ in another place.

Lord Jesus, we come to you and we trust you and we know that you are sovereign over all things. We know that you have plans in this world. We know that you are preparing and building and purifying a bride for yourself, that’s called your Church. And we pray that, as these two go, that they really would be able to strengthen the church in Ecuador. Lord, that they would be able to get underneath and lift it. That they’d be able to get behind it and push what you’re already doing in those places. We pray that they would be able to spread your word, your word that restores our souls. Your word that brings life and guidance and wisdom. I pray that they would be able to do all of that, not just with their words, but also with their lives, their example, their hands and their feet and their hearts, Lord. I pray that they would be really good at giving body and blood, just like you gave to us, Jesus. That they would go there and they would wash people’s feet—both figuratively and literally. And you would just help good testimonies to come, good fruit to come, and we’d all get to rejoice together. We do pray that you’ll care for them well and bless them as they go. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Thank you, guys. Thank you, church for all the support. Thank you for giving your tithes and offerings and gifts so that we can continue to forcefully advance the kingdom, as Jesus said, and be proactive in that way. It’s really a wonderful thing.

Who’s next? Who wants to go next? Some of you sitting in here, you’re going to be going. And I’m excited bout it. And we don’t know each other but we should. I’m looking around. I don’t know who you are. But you know. You and the Lord talk it out and then let me know.

We also have baptism coming up. If you have not been baptized, as Nacho Libre would say. Jesus himself was baptized, and he’s called those who follow him to follow him through the waters of baptism. It’s not just a cute little ritual, but it’s actually a real step of faith and solidifying in your walk with the Lord. If you’re ready to follow Jesus, if you’re ready to say, “Hey, I just want to go Jesus’ way and I want to let everything else go,” that’s all you really need to know. I mean, the rest you’ll learn more about as you go. If you’re interested, sign up for that.

We’ve got a Mexico mission trip coming up.

So, we’re in a sermon series called The Beautiful Heart. It was kicked off last week. The beautiful heart is the humble heart, the servant heart, the grateful heart and the generous heart. It’s so interesting to me. We’re going to be focusing on the servant heart today. As I came in today, I got the bulletin and I knew I was teaching on the servant heart, not a lot of other people did. I think we actually advertised the wrong heart online or something, but it’s okay. We’ll live. But as I walked in, I saw that we are spotlighting one of our staff members, Arthur Le. I just thought the Lord was smiling a little bit, saying, “ha ha,” because, as I was studying all week about the servant heart, you know, looking at the heart of Christ and looking in the Scriptures, I kept thinking about, “Oh, that sounds like Arthur.” On the good side of things. It was like, “Oh, I got a story from Arthur’s life that illustrates exactly what that is.” And then I come in and it was like, servant heart, here, we’re spotlighting Arthur. So if this message doesn’t work today, to help us understand the servant heart, just go find this guy and hang out with him a little while. Bam. Done. You’re going to get it. No problem. Arthur is a total joy and he’s teaching all of us what it means to serve around here.

To get us off on the right foot, the end goal of every Christian is to become Christlike. That’s it. If you what to follow Christ, yes, you get baptized. Yes, you invite him into your life. You make confession and then you follow him. And the whole goal from that point forward is for you to become Christlike. If you ever wonder what’s supposed to be happening, what it means to have good fruit coming out of your life, it’s Christlike. That’s the goal. Whether you’re Kanye or anybody else, the goal is to be Christlike.

It doesn’t matter where you start. It doesn’t matter how un-Christlike you might be, when you follow Jesus, he leads you into a place where you are becoming more like him, more into the image of Christ, more Christlike. That’s the goal.

The name “Christian” actually means little Christ. So what does it mean to be Christlike? This sermon series is all about that. We’re calling it the Beautiful Heart. Jesus had the beautiful heart. And it’s our attempt to answer that question.

We look at the heart of Christ, which is so beautiful. Some would say the heart of Christ is so beautiful it’s irresistible. Oh, how amazing and perplexing it would have been to spend a day with Jesus as he walked among us. To see. To hear. To feel the heart of Jesus expressed in humanity. I mean, you probably would have been, like, “Wow. This is incredible.” And, “Whoa, this is so weird.” Because it was probably so foreign to experience a heart like that.

But I believe Jesus’ heart is summed up well by something I picked up by familymatters.net. It’s actually grace based parenting. It’s this organization that’s trying to help parents parent better. One of the things they do is they say that you should teach your kids what true greatness is. The world is teaching them that to be wealthy, to be powerful, to be popular, those are the things that are really going to be great in life. But we should teach our kids what true greatness is. True greatness is a humble heart, a servant heart, a grateful heart, a generous heart. That’s what’s truly beautiful. I agree with that.

I’m just furthering it to say that I think this is what sums up the heart of Christ and what it means to be Christlike. So we’re unpacking that together.

They said:

A humble heart is a reverence for God and a respect for others.
A servant heart is a willingness to take action in order to help someone else. [Whether they like you or not, or are like you or not.]
A grateful heart is an appreciation for what you have and an acknowledgement of Who has given it.
A generous heart is a great delight in sharing with others what God has entrusted to you.
—familymatters.net

I like how Nathan Bentley highlighted the word “meekness” in his kickoff of the Humble Heart. I think that is a really great word. Strength under control. Powerful and gentle. Jesus himself described his heart this way. It’s always a real positive thing when you can build a sermon series and you can actually have Jesus saying, “Hey, if you want to know what my heart is like, I’ll tell you what my heart is like.”

We have a verse where Jesus actually describes his heart. He says, “To all who are weary and carrying a heavy load…” Anybody? Weary? Carrying a heavy load? Whether it’s your own or somebody else’s? No one? That’s amazing! Liars!

He said, “If you’re in that spot, come to me and I’ll give you pep talk.” Nope.

“Come to me and I’ll give you some construction criticism and help you with your problem solving.” Nope.

He says, “Come to me and I will give you rest.”

What an awesome song that came out of our worship team’s heart as they wrote that. Just resting in him. Resting in him. That’s really what we’re supposed to do. We’re supposed to abide, remain in Christ. And that alone will cause us to bear much fruit.

He says to link arms with him and learn from him, for he is gentle and humble in heart. Our God, when he described his own heart, he says it’s gentle and humble. And that’s just not what we celebrate. I mean, every song out there is talking about, “Look how cool I am. I’m so bad. I’m so awesome.” You watch these football players. They make about fourteen bad plays in a row, but they block one pass and they’re dancing all over the guy like they’re something so special. We’re like, “Whoa, that’s so cool. Look at their celebration.”

Yet, Jesus describes his heart as gentle and humble. He was not harsh or severe. He was not condescending or provoking. He was not disappointed or crotchety. He wasn’t in a hurry and he was not easily offended. Just like Americans. Just like me as a parent. No. The humble heart of God.

What’s so amazing about the humble heart of God is the humble heart of God is also in connection with the omnipotence of God. So powerful. Creator of all. And yet humble in heart.

When I first started worshiping Jesus with singing—it might sound weird, I mean, I went to church for a long time and never song—but at one point I was awakening to a relationship with Jesus, and I wanted to bless his heart and do things that I thought would please him—and one of the things I read in the Scriptures and I saw other people doing was singing. So I thought, “Eh, what the heck. Let’s give that a shot.” Usually, luckily at our church, it’s loud enough that nobody can hear you. But I just started singing a little bit. There was one song in particular that the lyrics were simple. It said, “O God, awesome in power, O God, gentle in love.” Those two lyrics together of awesome in power and gentle in love, it just endeared my heart to this God that I was beginning to learn about and know. How could someone be so awesome in power and yet gentle in love. Because every person I’ve known that gets power, their heart doesn’t go that way. It goes the other way, with power corrupting.

Yet God, who had all power, was expressing his power in gentleness and love and humility. And the more I got to know Christ, both studying his life, and then experiencing a relationship with him, it just got further and further in that same way. The humble heart of God is so beautiful.

Isaiah 40. I love the way a prophet who was kind of getting a picture, a word from God about this Messiah that was to come later on—the way he describes this God is:

10
See, the Sovereign Lord comes with power,
and he rules with a mighty arm.
See, his reward is with him,
and his recompense accompanies him.

And with all that power, and that mighty arm that he has…

11
He tends his flock like a shepherd:
He gathers the lambs in his arms
and carries them close to his heart;
he gently leads those that have young.

I love the way they describe the Messiah. So different from any other Savior that you could imagine.

In another place it describes Jesus as one who “a bruised reed he will never break and a smoldering wick he will never put out,”

Jesus, as he walked full of all that omnipotence that created the cosmos, he walked among us like a lamb with gentleness and humility. He didn’t break anybody. He didn’t hurt anyone. His humble heart was so beautiful.

So what does it look like to have a servant heart. I think the humble heart, once you cultivate the humble heart, it is expressed in the servant heart. Just like when you cultivate a grateful heart it is expressed easier in generosity. So the humble heart leads to the servant heart.

I came up with three points because it’s a good teaching tool, and I forget to do it all the time. But I remembered it this time.

A servant heart is selfless in its motives.
A servant heart is secure in its service.
A servant heart is sincere in love.

We’re going to unpack each one of those as we go. But before we do, I don’t want you to miss this. And I’m going to come back to this at the end because it’s that important. We are upholding these virtues. We’re trying to get a picture of the heart of Christ. As we look at it, we see it as beautiful. We see it as amazing. We see it as what the world needs today. We see it as so different from everything we see. Ultimately, if we’re honest, we see it as something different than our own heart. And we can start to feel a little bummed. Or challenged.

And the question comes, “Well, how can my heart, that is so worldly, that is so selfish, that is so unlike Christ, how can this old heart, this young heart, this hurt heart, whatever it might be, how can it form and change into a heart that is more Christlike?”

And the Bible is very clear on this. And I want to be very clear on this. The only way to become more Christlike is to be with Christ. You’ve got to spend time with Jesus. There are a lot of gurus out there that will tell you a lot of different things. Do some weird stretching. Climb mountains. Stare at your belly button. Whatever it is. You’ll get more in tune with yourself. No doubt about it. And it is good to get in tune with your own soul. But it is not going to form you into the image of Christ. There is only One who knows the image of Christ, and that is the Spirit of Christ. And when we are in the presence of Christ by his Spirit, we are formed. He rubs off on us. We are changed into his image when we are in the glory of the Lord.

And the trick is, you have to do it daily and you’ve got to do it for decades. Being a Christian is not just, “Hey, say a prayer and we’re good. We’ll check in every year or so, Christmas and Easter.” You’re going to have a very un-Christlike heart if that’s what you’re doing. You might be great at church, but you’re not going to be like Christ. It’s a scary thing to be good at church and not like Christ. It’s a daily spending of time in the presence of God, of Christ. And it takes decades. So that’s the challenge to us.

A servant heart is selfless in its motives. Let’s turn to 2 Samuel 17. We’re going Old Testament. We’re going to get another Old Testament character because so often these Old Testament pictures give us such a clear vision of what Christ is trying to teach us in the New Testament In 2 Samuel 17, we’re introduced to a few guys, and I want to highlight on in particular: Barzillai

27 When David [the king] came to Mahanaim, Shobi son of Nahash from Rabbah of the Ammonites, and Makir son of Ammiel from Lo Debar…

Anybody? Lo Debar ringing a bell? Anybody? Yeah? A couple of weeks ago. Mephibosheth. Lo Debar? Yeah. This is the same guy that took care of Mephiboseth before David called him to his courts.

…and Barzillai the Gileadite from Rogelim 28 brought bedding and bowls and articles of pottery. They also brought wheat and barley, flour and roasted grain, beans and lentils, 29 honey and curds, sheep, and cheese from cows’ milk for David and his people to eat. For they said, “The people have become exhausted and hungry and thirsty in the wilderness.”

So we have this picture. An introduction. One of these four characters in particular, Barzillai, because the Bible highlights him in the next couple of chapters. All we know is that David is in a place where, for whatever reason, he and all the people that are with him are exhausted, tired and weary. And these guys, including Barzillai, get together some supplies and they give to the refreshment of David and his men.

What is happening is David and the people are outside of Israel, across the Jordan river in Lo Debar area, which is without pasture. It’s the wilderness. It’s the desolate place. It’s like Arizona. Just kidding. It’s the desert. It’s way out there. And they were fleeing because David’s son Absalom, who all we really know about was that he was bitter because his father didn’t really deal with his family well. He had some daddy wounds. And he had really long hair. That’s all we know. And yet, he had basically cultivated a coup to overthrow David. He wanted to kill David. He wanted to overthrow David. He did some horrific things to David’s family.

David had to flee. And the people he could gather had to flee for their lives. Because Absalom had gathered all these men, and David, at the time, wasn’t willing to fight his own son whom he loved. So David had fled and had been run out of town. And people had been mocking him. People had been laughing at him. People had been saying, “See, this is what you get for the horrors that you’ve done.”

And so David is out there, feeling shame, feeling betrayed, feeling hurt. And literally had no time to get supplies for the journey. They had been running for their lives so they’re exhausted. And there were these men that came around, men that David had probably interacted with when he was younger and was running for his life from Saul. But they come around. They hear the king is in need and they come around and give aid to him and the people. And Barzillai in particular is mentioned because what happens is, they care for David and then, at some point, however long that period was, there was a war between David’s men and Absalom, as Absalom is pursuing David. And Absalom’s hair gets caught in a tree and he’s kind of hanging there. He gets killed and his men get overthrown. So David is now able to come back to Jerusalem and set up as king again.

As he’s coming back, it says in 2 Samuel 19:

31 Barzillai the Gileadite also came down from Rogelim to cross the Jordan with the king and to send him on his way from there.

So, for whatever reason, those other ones aren’t there anymore. And this is what I love about the servant heart. The servant heart is a thorough heart. All these guys came and basically said, “Here, we’ll help you out in this moment.” But it seems like the other guys went home. I don’t know that, but I do know that Barzillai stayed with David. He didn’t just give him a handout and then leave. He stuck with him. He cared for him. He made sure things were okay.

And even when David was going back, he said, “All right. Well, I’m going to go on part of the journey with you, across the Jordan. And then I’m going to send you on your way.” It’s like, “You came to my house and I’m going to walk you out to your car.” He was thorough in his service, this Barzillai.

32 Now Barzillai was very old, eighty years of age. He had provided for the king during his stay in Mahanaim, for he was a very wealthy man. 33 The king said to Barzillai, “Cross over with me and stay with me in Jerusalem, and I will provide for you.”
34 But Barzillai answered the king,

And this is pretty funny. First service was laughing a lot. See what kind of age we’re dealing with here.

“How many more years will I live, that I should go up to Jerusalem with the king? 35 I am now eighty years old. Can I tell the difference between what is enjoyable and what is not? Can your servant taste what he eats and drinks? Can I still hear the voices of male and female singers? Why should your servant be an added burden to my lord the king? 36 Your servant will cross over the Jordan with the king for a short distance, but why should the king reward me in this way? 37 Let your servant return, that I may die in my own town near the tomb of my father and mother.

So, here’s Barzillai, who’s basically like, taking care. He’s got a willing heart. He’s got a thorough heart. He’s selfless in his motives, because, here the king is basically saying, “Hey, I need people like you with me. You can sit at my table. You can live in the palace. We’ll take good care of you. You can be someone of esteem instead of being a person that lives out here in Lo Debar, that we all make fun of because it’s like Gila Bend.” (Sorry if you’re born in Gila Bend. )

And Barzillai looks at the king and says, “King, look, I’m good. I’m grateful. I didn’t do this to try and get in good with you. I didn’t do this to try and climb some sort of ladder. I know where I’m supposed to serve, king. I know what God has called me to do and it’s beautiful, even if you can’t see that, king. And he tells the king, “This is what I’m going to do. I’m going to take care of you, and I’m going to get you across that Jordan River. And I’m going to send you on your way with you need to get home, and I’m going to get back to the serving that I know I’m supposed to do. And if it’s small in your eyes, so be it.”

I just love the way Barzillai reacts here. On the other hand, he also says, “Why in the world would you try and reward me for something like this? This is what I do. This is who I am. It gives me pleasure to serve you. And ultimately, king, I’m not serving you to serve you. I’m serving you because I serve God. So why would you try and reward me for something that is a joy for me to do?”

That is a servant heart right there, you guys. We found it. That’s the servant heart. That is so un-American. We’re trying to climb every ladder. All of our giving has strings attached. And here’s this Barzillai, who knows what it means to serve. And he has to put the king back in his place and say, “King, what I’m doing is beautiful. What I’m doing is service. And it’s meaningful. And besides, you city boys, I don’t understand all that singing and dancing that you do.”

I love his attitude in all of this. It reminds me, honestly, my grandfather was a Colonel in the air force, my wife’s grandpa was in the army, career. Those guys just got it. They understood service. You would thank them for their service and they would just try and stop you. Because they didn’t do it so that someday they could tell the stories and be praised. They did it because they had a servant heart. This is what I see in Barzillai. He was someone who served with selfless motives.

The second thing: A servant is someone who is secure in their service. John 13 is another passage. It teaches us about how to serve out of security:

13 It was just before the Passover Festival. Jesus knew that the hour had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.

Thorough in his service, as well.

2 The evening meal was in progress, and the devil had already prompted Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus. 3 Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; 4 so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist….and began to wash his disciples’ feet…

In John 13, John is basically recounting this story that is not in the other three gospels. Matthew, Mark and Luke were all written between 60 and 70 a.d. by those guys. John didn’t write until about another twenty or thirty years later. John was one of the people that was actually there, that got his feet washed. John is writing at the end, saying, “Hey, there are a few more stories that need to be told. And there’s a little bit of a spin I want to put on the stories of what I remember of Jesus.”

He really emphasizes the deity of Christ. So he has these basic elements of the story, and he inserts things like, “Jesus knew that it was time for him to leave the world and go to the Father. Jesus knew that he had come from God and was going to God. So whatever John is writing here, he’s recounting that moment where he’s sitting at the Last Supper with Jesus. He can feel the intensity of whatever is going on in Jesus’ heart. It doesn’t sound like they were too clued in on what was going on with Judas, but it was all happening.

John is writing the story about this moment where Jesus got up from the table, —and whether all of them kind of looked at Jesus when he did that, or if just John noticed that Jesus was doing something different—he’s remembering the look in Jesus’ eyes. He’s remembering the emotion that seemed to be expressed in Jesus’ heart and the pace at which Jesus moved through these steps. And John recounts everyone. It’s almost as if slow-motion was happening.

And John says, “Jesus, knowing that it was time for him to leave the world, knowing that the cross, the betrayal, the pain, the agony, the real test was coming, and knowing that he had come from God and was going to God, knowing that the Father had put all power in his hands to do whatever he wanted, he chose to get up, to grab a towel, and to wash these guys’ feet.”

That’s what he did with his power. That’s what he did in his most important moment. And there was something about what John was saying. Jesus had this understanding, this perspective. He knew he had come from God, he knew he was going. There was a security that Jesus had which enabled him to serve in a way that was so meaningful that John wrote about it years later, after living a life of service. And still today, all over the world, people are washing each others’ feet to show love and service to one another.

Down in Belize, just a few weeks ago, when we were with all the men at the retreat. There were over 60 guys, I felt like the Lord was saying, “Hey, let’s do some foot washing.”

And I was like, “Oh, this is going to be weird. They’re going to be like, ‘What? I’m not toughing that guy’s feet. Ugh.’”

But I said, “All right, guys. We’re going to do a foot washing.”

They were kind of like, “What?!”

Some of them knew, they had heard stories. Some of them hadn’t. So I tried to lighten the mood a little bit by saying, “Okay, now, we’re going to wash each other’s feet. And just because it’s going to feel a little weird, it’s not supposed to. When you hold a guy’s foot and you’re washing it, just don’t look them in the eyes, okay?”

They liked that a lot.

“And then there’s like a twenty second limit per foot. So, as you’re washing it, just don’t look them in the eyes and then make sure you don’t go over 20 seconds. Then switch to the other foot. Twenty seconds and it’s done.”

I was trying to ease it up a bit. It was a beautiful thing to see all of these guys that have a lot of father wounds, that have been hurt by a lot of their male relationships. It’s a tough, dog-eat-dog society and culture. And here they were, washing each other’s feet.

It’s all coming back to this moment where Jesus, out of his security, was able to debase himself, was able to say, “I don’t care what everybody thinks about me. I’m going to serve, because I’m so locked in with the way my Father in heaven feels about me.”

And how do you get that security? Well, same thing. You’ve got to be with Jesus. Jesus knowing where he had come from, knowing he was returning to God, and that’s what we need to do. We need to root ourselves in that security if we want to serve well.

And then last: A servant heart is sincere in its love. Really, there’s no better description of the servant heart, I think, than what happens in 1 Corinthians 13, when it is describing what love is.

Dallas Willard—we’re going to get a bunch of Dallas Willard next year as we try and grow in our understanding of who God is and what he wants—he says that love is to will the good of another. That’s the way he describes it. Basically that’s what love is. It’s not a feeling. It’s not something you can get. True love is when you are willing the good of another. That is what love is all about.

1 Corinthians, you guys know it:

I’m going to say it. Love is patient. Love is kind..I’m going to go through this thing, but a servant heart is these very same things.

4 [A servant heart] is patient, [a servant heart] is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.

I really think that’s a key. You know you have a servant heart when someone is treating you like a servant and it doesn’t bother you. It’s never happened in my life. No! When someone treats you like a servant, like, “Go get that for me!” And you’re like, “What did you say?” Again, it’s coming from a place of security. It’s not that you should just allow jerks to run over you and take advantage of you all the time. No, it’s when God’s calling you to love and serve someone, if they treat you like that, you say, “Okay. No problem. I’ll continue to serve you until you start to understand. Until you start to feel what patience and kindness really feels like. Until your heart can be softened by the love and service that I’m offering you. Just like my heart was softened by the love and service of Jesus to me.” So that’s what a servant heart looks like.

So how do we become more selfless? We spend time with the One who gave it all, who called himself the servant of all. How do we become more secure? We spend time with the One who is eternal, immoveable, unchanging, who is called the Rock of Ages.

How do we become more sincere in our love? We spend time with the One who is described as love and the Author of love.

How do we become more humble, helpful, grateful, and generous like Jesus? We spend time with Jesus. Daily and for decades. Daily and for decades. There is no quick and easy fix. It’s every day and it’s every day.

Let’s prepare our hearts for communion as we close—spend a little time with Jesus, allowing him to maybe highlight some things in your life where you’re doing well with this. Just allow him to search your heart and commend you for the things you’re doing well. But then, also, to bring to mind the things that maybe you’re not doing well in. You can spend that time confessing both your sin and mistakes, as well as confessing your forgiveness and wholeness.

We’ll all take this together in the end, but just hold on to the body and blood of Christ and spend a little time talking to Jesus.

Paul writes this to the Philippian church (Philippians 2):

5 In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:
6 Who, being in very nature[a] God,
    did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;
7 rather, he made himself nothing
    by taking the very nature[b] of a servant,
    being made in human likeness.
8 And being found in appearance as a man,
    he humbled himself
    by becoming obedient to death—
        even death on a cross!

And Jesus, we do pause right here, as the world is spinning, as our to-do list is clamoring for our attention, we choose to pause everything, Lord, and to look into your face, and to see into your eyes and into your heart, and to say, “Thank you” for your body that was broken so that we could be made whole. Please fill us with your humility.

Let’s take the bread.

And Jesus, we thank you for your blood that flowed to wash away all of our selfishness. Please do that once again.

Let’s take the cup.

Will you guys stand with me as we close in a chorus and have a little time of prayer up front? If you need prayer for anything, we’d love to partner with you and go before the Lord. This is a lot of information. I’m excited that we have a little curriculum that’s going to be going out to all the Life Groups. You can unpack it a little bit more.

If you don’t belong to a Life Group, we’re going to be launching some new ones in February so you can plugged in. This is more important than enneagram, or Myers Briggs or your PDP report. Whatever you are will be expressed in the most beautiful way if you can get this stuff right. You won’t even have to worry about it.

Let’s just spend time putting the Lord on the highest place in our hearts.

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture is taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide.

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