01:20 Humility Makes Everything Better

01:49 Self-Focus vs. Humility in God's Community

02:47 Exploring Matthew 19: The Upside Down Kingdom

04:01 The Pharisees and the Rich Young Man: Obeying for the Wrong Reasons

10:16 Follow Jesus, Not Just Rules

19:32 Fairness and the Kingdom of Heaven

22:41 The Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard

26:03 Reorienting Our View of God's Grace

30:24 Peter's Question and Jesus' Response

37:36 The Nature of True Greatness

39:35 Embracing Humility

I want you to ask you guys a question.

2

What is the strangest deep fried

food that you've ever seen?

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The strangest deep fried

food you've ever seen.

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Caleb?

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Probably fried butter.

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Deep fried butter.

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Is that even a food?

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Butter is.

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Butter is my favorite

food group, but Josh.

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Deep fried Oreo.

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Deep fried Oreos.

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Yeah.

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Deep fried cheesecake.

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Deep fried cheesecake.

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These are all dessert.

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Deep fried, any Kool-Aid,

deep fried Kool-Aid.

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I was researching this online.

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I found deep fried watermelon.

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I don't know how that works.

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I dunno how you fry something that's a

fruit, but there's deep fried watermelon.

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They serve it like sushi.

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It looks really weird.

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I couldn't find any clip pictures

that weren't blurry 'cause I

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didn't have Pastor Rod to help

me learn how to use my computer.

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But deep fried watermelon Carson.

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Saw deep fried, deep fried water.

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Wow.

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I saw in my brief foray onto the

internet, I saw deep fried tarantula.

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That was disgusting.

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That was, yeah.

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I was like, why would

you want to eat that?

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But some people say that deep fried food

is, is like, it's, you can't go wrong.

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And if you deep fry it,

it works for everything.

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That's what some people say.

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They say that if you deep fry

it, it makes everything better.

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Right.

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Chicken deep fry it, shrimp, deep

fry, it tarantulas, deep fry it.

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They'll say, if you deep fry

it, it makes everything better.

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And I want you guys to, to hear today,

what I want you guys to, to walk away with

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is realizing that humility is like what

some people think about deep fried food.

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Humility makes everything better.

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Every place you're in, every relationship

you have, every person you talk to,

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conversation, you have everything.

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In your life, humility makes everything

better, and that's because humility is the

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key to how God wants his people to live.

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So our main point tonight is that

self-focused and self-interest, right?

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It's the opposite of humility.

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Self-focused and self-interest

have no place in God's people.

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If you wanna be part of God's people

or if you call yourself a Christian.

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Focusing on yourself and caring about

what you want most is not gonna fly.

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It's not gonna work out very well.

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Self focus and self interest

have no place in God's community.

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So right now we've been looking

at the gospel of Matthew.

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Last week we talked

about the church, right?

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We talked about forgiving people.

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We talked about being.

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Even calling out sin in each other's

lives and how to have those conversations.

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We talked about what Jesus is

saying about how he wants his

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people, Christians to interact.

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He wants them to, to

live together in a group.

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God doesn't save you and then

tell you to live on your own.

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And we're gonna continue

seeing what that is.

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So tonight, uh, some people call

it, we're gonna be looking at the

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upside down kingdom of God, and we're

gonna look at Matthew 19 and 20.

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So why don't you turn there in your

Bibles with me to Matthew chapter 19.

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Matthew Chapter 19, we're gonna be looking

at the first 22 verses of the chapter.

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So this section here,

Matthew 19, one to 22.

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There are three

interactions that Jesus has.

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There's three conversations that happen.

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The first one, the Pharisees

that says they come to test him

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and they ask him about divorce.

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They say, is it, is it lawful for

someone to divorce their wife?

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Is it okay?

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Is God let people do that?

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That's the first question,

the first interaction.

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The second thing that happens is the

little children come to Jesus, and

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you might have heard that somewhere

in kids' ministry on the wall, let

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the little children come to me.

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That's what Jesus says.

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That's the second one.

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The third one is a rich young

man asks what he needs to do

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to get eternal life, and you've

probably heard about that one too.

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He says, Jesus, what must

I do to get eternal life?

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There's three conversations

that Jesus has.

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And Matthew puts all these

conversations together because

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he wants us to compare them.

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There's something that he wants

us to see by putting all of

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these conversations in a row.

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See, the Pharisees and the rich

young man, they are coming and asking

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Jesus questions about God's law.

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The Pharisees say, oh, can

we, if, if we don't like our

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spouse, can we divorce them?

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Can we break up our marriage?

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Just because, uh, is, is that

something that God lets us do?

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Then the rich young man, he's asking

a question, what good deed must I do?

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What laws do I have to keep to

make sure that I get to heaven?

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So they're asking questions about God's

law, and on the surface they might seem

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genuine, but Jesus' conversations with

them reveal something about their hearts.

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He's gonna ask them a question back.

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Jesus loves doing this.

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Someone asks him a question and he's

gonna shoot him a question back.

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I had a small group leader

do that to me all the time.

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It was terrible.

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I'd ask him a question.

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Oh yeah, it was actually, it was

Pastor Evan from Hill Country, pastor

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Evan, what do you think about this?

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Or what do I do?

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He'd be like, what do

you think you should do?

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Like, thanks Pastor Evan.

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That's super helpful.

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But it made me think, and it

actually taught me more about

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myself and my thought process.

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That's what Jesus does.

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He's revealing something about

their hearts, and what we're gonna

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see is that he is showing them that

they're trying to use God's command.

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God's law that they've read about.

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They're trying to use it to make

themselves feel worthy of going to heaven.

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They're trying to look at

God's law and say, okay, if I

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do this, then I'm good enough.

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If I do this, then I must be the kind of

person that God wants to have in heaven.

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I must be worth it.

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I must be someone that God really,

really likes and, and really

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wants to include in heaven.

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So they're trying to use God's commands.

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To make themselves feel worthy.

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So when they read their Bibles,

they hear sermons, they see a

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bunch of rules, and they're like,

I want to check off all the boxes.

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I wanna be the best rule follower.

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So that way I can feel good and I can say,

God, look at, look at my rule following,

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look at my checklist of things I've done.

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And that what that says about

them is that their obedience

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is mainly about them, right?

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It's about, oh, I, I want to obey so

I can look good, so I can feel good.

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Look at my spiritual report card.

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God.

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I must be worthy of saving.

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So they're trying to make

themselves feel good enough or feel

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better, at least in other people.

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Maybe I'm not amazing, but

I'm better than those people.

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Whether you are a Christian or not.

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I think that you today are

in danger of the same thing.

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I think that all of us in this room

are in danger of doing the same

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thing that the rich young man in the

Pharisees are doing in our passage.

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We're in danger of obeying

God, not for him, but for us.

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We're in danger of obeying God

to make ourselves feel good.

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Instead of wanting Jesus and

wanting a relationship with him,

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we want to check off the boxes

to feel good about ourselves.

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So you can see an example of

this right here in Matthew

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19, verses seven and eight.

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The Pharisees, that's they, they said

to Jesus, why then did Moses command?

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One to give a certificate of divorce.

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So this is what, this is what

happens right before this.

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So Jesus is the Jesus

talking to the Pharisees.

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Pharisees are like, Hey,

can we divorce our spouse?

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And Jesus is like God said in Genesis,

he puts a married couple together.

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He does it.

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It's not a contract,

it's not an agreement.

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It's not, uh, well if, if we

both like each other in 20 years,

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we'll keep doing this thing.

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He says that marriage

is something God does.

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And in the Pharisees, they're

like, oh, we got you now.

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Jesus.

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Look, Moses said we could divorce.

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Moses said, and they say, Moses

commanded that we could do it.

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And then Jesus says, he said to them,

because of your hardness of heart,

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it's not that God wanted you to do

this, it's because of you it that Moses

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allowed you to divorce your wives.

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But from the beginning it was not so.

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So they're saying, well,

look, we can do it because.

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It, we, we can still keep God's

law and, and serve ourselves.

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If I don't like my spouse, I can

still, I can still keep the law.

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It's about me, not about God.

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Jesus saying, God would want you

to stay together, but they're

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saying, well, we are finding a

loophole that we want to exploit.

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We, we are really just looking to

keep God's law when it works for us.

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We don't want to do it for God.

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'cause God would want

you to stay together.

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But.

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We don't wanna stay together,

so we're going to keep our hard

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hearts, but still keep the law.

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That's what we're gonna try to do.

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So the Pharisees are

keeping it for themselves.

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The rich young man is similar.

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A man came up to Jesus saying,

teacher, what good deed must

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I do to have eternal life?

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What good things do I need to

do to make sure I get to heaven?

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And Jesus goes over the

commandments with him.

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He talks about honoring

your father and mother.

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He talks about the, basically the

last half of the 10 Commandments.

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It's, and this guy, I, I've

never, I, I don't know him, right?

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I I, I'm not gonna, you know, we're

gonna, I'm not gonna say he wasn't

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amazing at doing the, the six through

10 commandments, but he says, I've done

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all of these things, probably not true.

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Right?

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He probably told a lie.

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He probably probably hated

someone in his heart, right?

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But he says, I've done all these things,

and Jesus, he doesn't question that.

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He says, well.

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Okay.

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If you would be perfect, go sell

everything you own and give it to

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the poor, and you'll have treasure

in heaven, then come follow me.

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So this rich young man is like, look,

Jesus, I've, I've gotten a plus on

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my spiritual report card, but Jesus

says, okay, if you really are the great

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Christian, you say you are, then show

that and sell everything you own because

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it'll be worth it for you in heaven.

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And then when the young man

heard this, he went away sad

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because he had a lot of stuff.

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So what Jesus just did here is he

showed that this young man who does he

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love more God or His stuff, his stuff.

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So Jesus, even though, even though this

young man kept all the commandments,

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or at least said he did, he was

really keeping the commandments

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to feel good about himself.

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He, because he is saying, look, I, I'm

good enough to go to heaven, Jesus.

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And Jesus says, actually,

you're not following me.

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You're just keeping the commitments

to make yourself feel good.

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So our first point

tonight is follow Jesus.

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Not just some rules.

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Follow Jesus, not just some rules.

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You could put it another way.

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You could say, have a

relationship with Jesus.

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Don't check boxes.

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The rich young man, he didn't

really wanna follow Jesus.

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He just wanted to do the right

things, feel good about himself,

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and keep his loyalty separate.

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He, he wanted to put himself

number one, and then follow God

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when it was convenient to him, and

the Pharisees did the same thing.

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You could also say this, follow

the rules for God, not for you.

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And that's because following Jesus

isn't just keeping rules, right?

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There are commandments to obey

as a Christian, but following

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Jesus is primarily a relationship.

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It's Jesus is the Lord and

and you're the servant.

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Jesus is.

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The teacher and you are the student.

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Jesus is the friend and you are

loving him and following him.

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It's a relationship.

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Imagine.

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Imagine with me, some of you might

have to imagine really hard, okay?

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But imagine you're dating someone, okay?

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Imagine, I know some of you, you do this

all day, so you're like, I got boom.

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I know exactly who, but some of you, this

might take a little work, but imagine,

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imagine you're dating someone, okay?

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Imagine if you were just like, I, I, I'm

in a relationship with this person, but

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really I'm just trying to do things for

them, do nice things for them, right?

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I open the door for them, I

text them encouraging messages.

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I tell 'em they look great today.

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I ask them how their day is going.

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I do all these things, but really

my goal is just to be a great

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boyfriend or a great girlfriend.

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And imagine I did this with my

beautiful wife if I was like doing

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all these great things for her, but

it was really just so I could be like,

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I just wanna be the best husband.

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I'm just doing this to be, to

get the husband of the year

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award if that even exists.

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Right.

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Does that say anything

about my affection for her?

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Right ladies, that would stink.

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You wouldn't want a man like that.

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Or if guys, if you realize that this

girl who's being really nice to you

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and, and talking to you and asking you

good questions and hanging out with

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you, if she was just like, actually,

I'm really just doing this to prove that

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I'm a, I'm a great person to be with.

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I'm just, I'm just working on, on my,

my girlfriend skills that would stink.

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Right.

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Yeah, there's loving things

that you can do, right?

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Good things to do.

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But you can do them for yourself.

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You can do them to make yourself feel good

like, oh man, I'm such a great boyfriend.

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I bought her flowers today.

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Look at me.

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And that sounds silly, but that's what

we do with God so much when we make

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following Jesus just about following

the rules and checking the boxes.

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Oh, look, I'm such a great Christian.

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I.

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Open the Bible app 900 days in a row,

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or, oh, look at me.

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I'm such a great Christian.

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I serve in VBS every year.

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Or look at, I'm such a great Christian.

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I talk to my leader and ask them

questions, ask 'em how they're doing,

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or I obey my parents really well,

or I make sure I, I say this prayer

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specifically when I go to sleep.

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And we can do that to

make ourselves feel good.

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And see, that's what the Pharisees

and the rich young men are doing.

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They're turning good acts of

love into a checklist to make

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themselves feel righteous.

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And I'm afraid that you

are doing the same thing.

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Even as a Christian, you

can do the same thing.

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You can follow, follow the rules that

God gives you, just to make yourself feel

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good just to say, oh, well, I must be a

Christian now because I stopped saying

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those words, or I stopped making those

jokes, so now I must be a Christian.

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That's about you.

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It's not about God.

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It's not, oh, I love God, so I

want to honor him with my words.

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It's no, I want to feel good, or

I wanna prove that I'm better than

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those people, or I want my leader to

stop asking me about my testimony.

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So it's kind of like those people

that, you know, they go to the gym and

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all they do at the gym is just stand

in front of the mirror, you know?

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And, and do all the cool

stuff, all that stuff, right?

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I had a roommate in college like that.

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It was hilarious.

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Um, half his time at the gym was

him just staring at himself, right?

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Don't be that kind of Christian.

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Don't be a Jim Mirror Christian.

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Don't be like, oh, look at the stuff I do.

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Look how great I am.

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Don't be that person.

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Don't be that guy.

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Don't be that girl.

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Don't follow God for yourself.

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Their rule following in this passage

that we're seeing, and maybe yours

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is a pursuit of their own interest.

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And Matthew wants us to compare their

rule following with that of the children.

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That's why he puts the

children right in the middle.

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If you remember last week we

talked about children as well.

315

So in Matthew 1915, Jesus says, let little

children come to me and don't hinder them.

316

Four, why this kind of person,

childlike person is the person

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that gets the kingdom of heaven.

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And he said that earlier.

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Whoever humbles himself.

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Like this child is the greatest

in the kingdom of heaven.

321

So see, it's kind of upside down, right?

322

He's saying the most vulnerable, the most

helpless, the most dependent people are

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the people that get the kingdom of heaven.

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Those people understand how this works.

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Jesus is saying that his commands

aren't, something, aren't like

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a podium for you to climb up to

the top of so you can feel great.

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He wants you to admit your

weakness and your need for him.

328

And to follow him because you want

him, not because you want yourself.

329

Following Jesus to get stuff for

yourself is not gonna do you any good.

330

You're just gonna be a, a, a moral person

who ends up forever apart from God.

331

So if you think just being a

Christian is, is living a certain

332

way and doing the right things, I,

I wanna invite you to, to just throw

333

that idea away and, and meet Jesus.

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Jesus is a person.

335

He's a person for you to love.

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He's a person for you to talk

to, to hear from, to live

337

with, to follow, to live for.

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So take your spiritual resume

building and, and just drop it.

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That's exhausting too, to try to put up

this front of, oh, I gotta be good enough.

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I gotta feel good about

my, my spiritual checklist.

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Maybe you think a relationship with God

is just doing some Christian things and

342

so you're like, oh, I'm a Christian.

343

'cause I, I go to church.

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My parents are Christian.

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We do family devotions.

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I must be a Christian just because

you're around Christian, just 'cause

347

you do Christian things doesn't make

you a Christian because what makes you a

348

Christian is a relationship with Jesus.

349

So follow Jesus.

350

Not the rules.

351

You can't be a Christian by osmosis.

352

You guys know what osmosis is.

353

You learn about mitochondria

is the powerhouse of the cells.

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You learn anything about this.

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So osmosis is when you're next

to, you're next to the, the cells

356

are next to each other and that's

how they, they transfer things.

357

I haven't taken biology in a long time.

358

That's the general idea that you

can't do that as a Christian, right?

359

You, you can't become a Christian just

because you're around Christian people.

360

You have to have a

relationship with Jesus.

361

So if your confidence in your salvation

is from all the stuff you've done,

362

then you're trusting the wrong

thing or trusting something that

363

ultimately will leave you empty.

364

So the reason a lot of people, even

Christians, can make obeying God

365

about themselves is because all of

us are wired to want to earn things.

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We all want to to earn something.

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We all want to feel

like, oh, I deserve that.

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I got that.

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That was from me to me.

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I, I did it.

371

I did a little search about ad campaigns

that tell you you deserve something.

372

And this is page five of this

many ads that I just, this is like

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a website that just tracks ads.

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So this is what, 1, 2, 3,

4 rows of 6 24 times five.

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That's almost a hundred.

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And that was just like

two seconds of Googling.

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So that's like a hundred ads that say,

you deserve this, you deserve this.

378

That's 'cause our culture knows that

you're wired to want to deserve things.

379

See, we want to feel like we deserve

everything we've got, and so we

380

get frustrated when life doesn't

go the way we think we deserve.

381

We get frustrated because we want

the world to operate the way.

382

We want it to.

383

We want the world to, to meet

our standards of what's fair.

384

You ever hear that, right?

385

You probably grew up saying it.

386

That's not fair, right?

387

That's not fair.

388

Someone else gets something good.

389

That's not fair.

390

Something bad happens to you.

391

That's not fair.

392

You hear that all the time.

393

And the problem is that our

standard of fairness is broken.

394

It's messed up.

395

What we think is fair isn't always right.

396

And that's what we're gonna go

next in this next chunk of Matthew.

397

Matthew 1923 to chapter 20 verse.

398

16, we're gonna talk about fairness.

399

Now, maybe you don't believe me that

your standard of fairness is broken.

400

Well, let me prove it to you that

your standard of fairness is broken.

401

Okay?

402

I wanna tell you a story.

403

Alright?

404

So let's say there is a, there's, there's

this boss, this manager, and he was

405

like, okay, I need to, to get stuff done.

406

So I'm gonna hire people.

407

Okay, I'm gonna hire all of these

people to, to get my work done.

408

Okay.

409

And so he's like, he talks to the, the,

the workers and he's like, all right

410

guys, I'll, I'll pay you a, a good wage,

a day's wage if you come work for me.

411

So then they go out and they do the work

and then he, the, a couple hours later,

412

the, the manager, he sees some other guys

just standing around outside and he's

413

like, Hey, you guys wanna work for me too?

414

I'll pay you a day's wage.

415

I'll pay you a full day's wage if you

416

AM and they're like, oh, awesome.

417

That's a great deal.

418

I'm getting paid eight

hours for six hours of work.

419

That's pretty great.

420

So then they keep working and

then he sees some other people.

421

A couple hours later it's like, let's say

it's like noon and the manager is like,

422

Hey, I want you guys to come work for me.

423

I'll pay you for eight hours of work,

but you only have to work four hours.

424

I'll pay you the full day, but

you only have to work half of it.

425

It.

426

They're like, oh, awesome.

427

Great deal.

428

Okay.

429

So then they work and they keep

wearing a couple hours later.

430

There's only one hour left in the day.

431

It's like 4:00 PM and there's still

some more people just standing out

432

on the street and the manager's like,

Hey, can you guys come work for me?

433

I'll pay you for eight hours

of work if you work one hour.

434

So then after, when they all come to

get their pay right, then when they

435

come to clock out and get their,

their, their paycheck for the day.

436

What do you think the people that

worked all day are gonna say?

437

If that was you, let's say you worked all

day, you worked eight hours, you get paid

438

for eight hours of work, and then you see,

oh, my friend, he only worked one hour.

439

He's getting paid the same amount of money

as me, and he works seven hours less.

440

Is that fair or not fair?

441

Raise your hand if you think that's fair.

442

Region think it's unfair.

443

Every single person in the

room thinks it's unfair Now.

444

That's because we're all selfish.

445

Because if you were the person who worked

one hour, you would be pretty, pretty

446

happy with how that turned out, right?

447

You'd be like, I worked, guess what?

448

I worked one hour and I

got paid for eight hours.

449

Right?

450

Or I only sat in class for two weeks

and I got credit for the whole year.

451

That, that would be pretty great.

452

I only did three assignments.

453

I got credit for all the

work for the whole semester.

454

Wouldn't that be awesome?

455

You'd be so excited about that.

456

But then when, if it was your classmate,

oh, he only did three weeks of work and

457

he got credit for the whole, he got an

A in the class, same grade I got, and

458

he only did three weeks of homework.

459

There'd be, there'd be trouble there.

460

Right.

461

That's actually the story that

Jesus tells in Matthew 20.

462

He tells the exact same story

that I just told you and.

463

The workers in the story react

the same way Jesus replied.

464

So the the Jesus is talking to,

he's telling this story and the

465

master is talking to the workers.

466

The workers are like, Hey, we worked

all day, we worked eight hours.

467

Or if you wanna do this in school, right?

468

We, we did all the homework

for the whole semester.

469

And you're saying that these people

that walked in with the one month

470

left of school got the same amount

of credit we did for way less work.

471

Look at what the master

in this story says.

472

He says, friend, I'm not doing you

any wrong because you agreed to

473

work and that word denarius, that's

a day's wage you worked for for

474

you got paid for what you worked.

475

You, you agreed, I'm gonna

work for a day's wage.

476

And you got paid a day's wage.

477

That's fair.

478

You signed up for to work this

much and you got this much pay.

479

That's perfectly fair.

480

I.

481

But then he says, I choose

to give this last worker the

482

guy who only worked one hour.

483

I just wanna give him

as much as I give you.

484

Not because he earned it,

but because I'm generous.

485

That's what the master says.

486

That's what the manager says.

487

He says, am I not allowed to do

what I want with what's mine?

488

It's my money if I wanna overpay

this guy because I'm generous.

489

It's my money.

490

Why are you mad about that?

491

You got what, what you deserve.

492

You got what you agreed to work for.

493

So that phrase right there, or

do you begrudge my generosity?

494

You probably didn't say, oh, do you

begrudge my, you probably didn't

495

use that word this week, right?

496

Begrudge.

497

So sometimes it's helpful to

look in a different translation.

498

Or if you know Greek, that's

also helpful, but is this so?

499

But literally in Greek it

says, is your eye evil?

500

Because I am good.

501

And the way other translations

put that is, are you jealous?

502

Because I'm generous.

503

That's what the master's saying.

504

He's saying I was generous

to this other worker.

505

Why are you upset about that?

506

And what the master is showing is that

the worker's upset and we're, we get

507

upset about that 'cause we're selfish.

508

Because we're saying,

I want what they got.

509

I want you to be generous to me too.

510

That's not fair.

511

You can't be generous to only that person.

512

And we get upset about things like

that and it exposes our selfishness.

513

See, when you see God being generous

to someone else, when you see

514

God being good to someone else.

515

When their life's better than yours,

when their friends are better than

516

yours, when their family is more well

off than yours, when their school or

517

their grades, or their talent or their

looks, you feel like they're better

518

than yours instead of rejoicing that

God has been generous to that person.

519

You expose your selfishness when

you say, why can't I get that too?

520

You're saying, God, I deserve that.

521

I deserve for you to

be generous to me too.

522

And that's because we're selfish

and that's so hard to swallow and

523

that's why Jesus tells this story.

524

So our second point tonight is

reorient your view of God's grace.

525

And this is gonna take a lot

of work, reorient, right?

526

Change the way you

think about God's grace.

527

Or we could say it this way.

528

Stop seeing God's grace

with your selfish eyes.

529

That's what the master said, right?

530

Are you jealous because I'm generous.

531

God's generous Grace

messes with us, right?

532

I think we're all kind of uncomfortable

when we hear that story and we're like,

533

wait, Jesus told that story, and Jesus

said that what that master did was

534

okay to pay that one person way more

than what they, what they deserved.

535

And when Jesus, or when God gives

people something we don't think

536

they deserved, it bothers us.

537

And that's because our selfish

hearts, they see something

538

good happen to someone else.

539

And our first thought, because

we're selfish, is why not me?

540

We want, we're jealous.

541

We want more than than we deserve.

542

We want that for us.

543

Instead of our first thought

being, man, God is so generous.

544

He gave that person that

family or those looks.

545

We say, why not me?

546

God, I deserve that.

547

You see how selfish that is.

548

Imagine if every time you got

something good, someone came up

549

to me and someone came up to you

and said, why didn't I get that?

550

Or every time it was your birthday,

someone came up to you and said.

551

You didn't do that for my birthday.

552

That would be terrible.

553

That would be, that would be so annoying.

554

And that would be, you would be like,

what are you, you're, you're so selfish.

555

That's what we do when we say,

God, why didn't you give me that?

556

We're saying, God, you're being

generous to them, but I demand

557

that you be just as generous to me.

558

But guess whose stuff it is?

559

Guess whose money?

560

Everything is, guess whose world this is?

561

Guess whose talents it?

562

It's all god's.

563

It all belongs to God.

564

So who are, who am I to say, God,

why did you let them be born to those

565

parents and me be born to these parents?

566

If God wants to bless them, that's,

that's perfectly right for God to do.

567

'cause it's his stuff.

568

God can do whatever he

wants with his stuff.

569

We feel like we have a

claim on what God can do.

570

We think we deserve to have a

say in how God does what he does.

571

But God can be generous however he

wants 'cause it's his stuff, right?

572

That manager, it's his money.

573

He can pay people however much he wants,

as long as they all agreed to it, right?

574

They all said, yeah, it sounds good.

575

Good deal.

576

I'll work for you.

577

And he said, okay, I'll just

be generous to this person.

578

It's God's money and he can

give it whoever he wants.

579

It's God can do whatever he wants

because he's, he's a just God.

580

He's not gonna do anything

that's wrong, right?

581

He's not gonna pay someone

less than they deserve.

582

Because think about it this way.

583

What do we all deserve anyway?

584

We all deserve to be punished for our sin.

585

And so we're all getting overpaid.

586

You realize that, right?

587

We're all getting overpaid because

we lived longer than two seconds.

588

We're all getting way more money

than we deserve from God because he's

589

letting us live beyond our first sin.

590

So we need to reorient and change

the way we think about God's grace.

591

We.

592

He can't deserve it.

593

It's God's grace.

594

It's his generosity.

595

He can do whatever he wants with it.

596

But see, sometimes we also

want to make sure that we feel

597

like we get what we deserve.

598

We feel like we deserve something.

599

And so we're like, I want to get that.

600

And right before Jesus tells this

parable in chapter 20, after talking

601

to the rich young man, he has a

conversation with Peter and the disciples.

602

So what happens at the end of chapter

19, right before this parable?

603

As Jesus says, after talking with

a rich young man, you might have

604

heard this, it's easier for a camel

to go through the eye of the needle

605

than for a rich man to go to heaven.

606

It's easier for giant animal to

go through tiny opening than for

607

a rich person to go to heaven.

608

And the disciples are shocked

because in this culture, rich

609

people were blessed by God.

610

If you were wealthy, a lot of

people would assume that, oh, that's

611

'cause God was generous to you.

612

God was kind to you.

613

And they're like, man, if those people,

the people that God is generous to,

614

can't go to heaven, what about us?

615

And so Peter, he says,

616

what about us?

617

See, we've left everything

in, followed you.

618

What then will we have,

or what's in it for us?

619

Jesus, look, look at all the

stuff we've done for you.

620

Jesus.

621

Are we gonna get something?

622

We deserve it.

623

Look what we've done for you.

624

We've left everything.

625

We actually did what you asked

the rich young man to do.

626

You said, go sell everything

and come follow me.

627

Peter's like I did that.

628

He's saying, Jesus, look

at what I've done for you.

629

That's, that's right there, what he says.

630

And then here's what

Jesus says in response.

631

He says, everyone who has left houses or

brothers or sisters, or father or mother,

632

or children, or lands for my namesake.

633

We'll receive a hundred fold

and will inherit eternal life.

634

So he's saying what's in it for you?

635

It'll be worth it.

636

It'll be worth it.

637

But when you think about it,

Jesus is still overpaying Peter.

638

Right?

639

This is way more than Peter

deserves for following Jesus.

640

But that's the problem is when we think of

God's grace, we think, oh, well, God does.

641

God should show me grace.

642

Now, what's wrong with that sentence?

643

Should anyone ever show someone grace?

644

Is Grace ever deserved?

645

If it is deserved, is it still grace?

646

No.

647

Right?

648

Grace by definition is undeserved favor.

649

You can't earn it.

650

So when you think about God's grace,

when you think about, oh man, I'm,

651

I maybe we talked about in the

first point is you're thinking.

652

I know I can't earn my salvation, but

I, I still think God should save me.

653

Maybe you never said it that way,

but maybe that's how you think.

654

Maybe you're like, you know, it

makes sense that God would save me.

655

Maybe you've never thought

that, but then I know that you

656

might've thought that because

657

when God saves someone, you

don't think he should save.

658

Oh God, you're gonna save that person.

659

Wait, that person's

coming to our church now.

660

You want me to forgive that person?

661

God, I'm supposed to overlook that person.

662

Sin.

663

You are saying, I deserve God's

forgiveness more than that person.

664

I deserve God's grace more than that

person that I don't want to forgive that.

665

I don't want you to save God.

666

So you're trying to lay claim on God's

grace and saying, well, I'm at least more

667

deserving of God's grace than that person.

668

See how selfish we are?

669

We try to, to do everything we can

to deserve God's grace, but we can't.

670

You can't deserve God's grace.

671

So maybe deep down you think, oh, it makes

sense that God would save me, or maybe.

672

You aren't a Christian.

673

Maybe we flip this.

674

Maybe you aren't a Christian and you think

the gospel sounds too good to be true.

675

You mean God will just

forgive me of everything.

676

I don't have to do anything, and

you haven't become a Christian

677

because to you that seems too easy.

678

You think, oh, well, if you gave me

something to do, God, I would do that,

679

and then I, I could become a Christian,

680

and that might come from

you wanting to deserve it.

681

It's too easy.

682

It, it seems too easy.

683

That's it because your, your brain

is trained to want to deserve things.

684

You want to feel like, oh, I did this

and I got this and I earned this.

685

And so maybe that's holding you back

from becoming a Christian 'cause

686

you feel like I want to deserve it.

687

Or maybe you just feel like I don't

deserve it and I can't become a Christian.

688

And what I have to say to you is amazing

news and that God's grace is his to give.

689

God can decide to save

whoever he wants to save.

690

And so you think, oh,

God couldn't save me.

691

You don't know what I've done, Lewis.

692

You don't know what I've thought about.

693

You don't know what I've watched.

694

You don't know what I've said.

695

God does and he can still save you

because it's his decision to save you.

696

It's not your decision to

determine whether you're

697

worthy of being saved or not.

698

And maybe you are a Christian and

you don't wanna share the gospel

699

with someone because you don't

think they deserve to be saved.

700

That's not your call to make

701

because you're making a judgment call.

702

That person doesn't deserve God's grace,

so I'm gonna hold it back from them.

703

So we gonna reorient our view of

God's grace because it's his grace

704

to give Last night or last week in

small groups, there was a really

705

funny moment where I felt like this.

706

I felt like this kid in

small groups last week.

707

And the reason is because my

wife made me an amazing dinner.

708

It smelled awesome.

709

And I started to eat it during small

groups and all of the junior high boys

710

came up to me and were like, can I have

some, can I have some, can I have some?

711

That smells so good.

712

Can I have, I was literally this

kid, I was like, this is why you

713

don't bring bread to the lake, right?

714

Because all the geese come up

to you and they're like trying

715

to eat you and your lunch.

716

So definitely not me.

717

Yeah, it's definitely not,

definitely not Carsten and, and

718

Caleb and Josh, definitely not them.

719

Um.

720

That's how I felt.

721

That was information.

722

Actually, this is probably

more like how I felt, but um,

723

I decided not to give my

dinner to any of them.

724

But if I had only given my dinner to

one of them, let's say only gave it to

725

Caleb, let's say, only gave it to Caleb.

726

A lot of people in in that room

would've said, that's unfair,

727

Louis, but whose dinner was it?

728

Mine?

729

So who gets to decide what to do with it?

730

Me, right.

731

So I can do whatever I

want with my food, right?

732

That's how God's grace works.

733

He can do whatever he wants with it.

734

It's not our job to decide

who gets it and who doesn't.

735

So reorient your picture,

your view of God's grace.

736

Now, to wrap it up here, our

third point, we're gonna be

737

looking at Matthew 20 17 34.

738

The rest of this chapter, and the key

to all of this, what we're talking

739

about is our focus, because our two

main temptations are to trick ourselves

740

into thinking we deserve God's grace

or to get upset when other people gr

741

grace that we don't think they deserve.

742

We need to figure out what we're,

what we're really focused on.

743

And so looking for what I

deserve and what benefits me.

744

If that's our focus, what

can I get out of this?

745

Right?

746

Peter's question, what about us?

747

That's the opposite of

how Jesus' kingdom works.

748

Look what Jesus says here.

749

So right before this, Jesus

says, I'm gonna suffer and die.

750

I'm gonna be crucified, I'm gonna

be beaten, and I'm gonna die.

751

And then he says the rulers of the,

the people who don't worship God, the

752

Gentiles, their rulers have authority

and they love their authority.

753

They hold it over people.

754

They're like, oh, we're, we're

gonna make you do what we want.

755

You know, it's kind of like when

you play Follow the Leader with

756

like a 4-year-old, they're like,

yes, I can tell people what to do.

757

This is awesome.

758

Right?

759

That's what the world does with authority.

760

But Jesus says, that's not

how you guys, Christians live.

761

Whoever would be great important

among you must be your servant and

762

whoever would be first, the the, the

best among you must be your slave.

763

Even as the son of man came not to

be served, but to serve Jesus, the

764

son of man, the reigning king, God

of the universe came not to get,

765

but to give and give his life as

a ransom for many, many sinners.

766

Many people who hated him, who turned

from him, who abandoned him, who made fun

767

of him, who mocked him, who killed him.

768

He gave his life for those people.

769

Jesus says, real greatness is giving

yourself for the good of others.

770

And that's our third point.

771

Embrace humility as true greatness.

772

Embrace humility as true greatness.

773

So I wanna ask you is what

type of people do you admire?

774

Who do you think is great?

775

It's not like, oh, you're so

great, but great, like important.

776

Awesome, cool.

777

What type of people do you celebrate?

778

What type of people are the people?

779

You're like, I want to

be like that person.

780

I admire that person.

781

Put it another way.

782

We could say, what type of

person do you want to lead you?

783

If you're like, oh, I

would follow that person.

784

I want that person to be my coach.

785

I want that person to be my trainer.

786

I want that person to tell me what to do.

787

Jesus is the type of person that you

should you should want to follow is

788

the humble person, person who serves

others, the person who loves others.

789

Now, humility you might think.

790

Humility is thinking, I'm

nothing, thinking I'm worthless.

791

Oh, I'm so bad at this.

792

I'm not really that good at that.

793

I'm really not that talented.

794

Maybe that's what you think humility is.

795

That's not true.

796

Humility.

797

As one famous author, put it, humility

is not thinking less of yourself.

798

It's not thinking worse about who you are.

799

It's thinking of yourself less.

800

It's being less occupied with

yourself, less concerned with what I

801

want, what I need, what I should get.

802

That's what humility is.

803

It's not thinking why I'm a

terrible person, I'm a loser.

804

Humility is just not

thinking about yourself.

805

It's like, oh, I didn't really think

about what I wanted in this situation.

806

I was worried about what you wanted.

807

I was worried about how to care for you.

808

I was worried about how to

love you, how to encourage you.

809

I didn't think about what I wanted.

810

That's humility.

811

So I wanna ask you is what are your

priorities when you show up places?

812

When you came to True North

tonight, what did you think about?

813

Did you think about, oh,

this is what I want to do.

814

I want to do this, I want have this.

815

I wanna talk to this

person, I'm gonna do this.

816

Or what are you thinking?

817

How can I encourage these people?

818

How can I help these people?

819

How can I love these people?

820

When you go to school,

what do you think about?

821

Do you think about, oh,

what do I get outta this?

822

This is so lame.

823

I hate this.

824

Or do you think about who can I bless?

825

Who can I encourage?

826

What can I do to, to encourage

my teacher or my friends?

827

What about when you come home

or you know, what do I get?

828

I come home, I wanna do my things.

829

I wanna play my games.

830

I wanna watch my videos.

831

I wanna watch my shows.

832

I want to do things the

way I want to do them.

833

Or you thinking about other people, oh,

what, what does my sibling want to do?

834

How can my parents, how

can I help my parents?

835

Have a great weekend?

836

Does that ever cross your mind?

837

Jesus says, that's the type

of person that is great.

838

That's an awesome person.

839

So remember our main point,

self-focused and self-interest

840

have no place in God's people.

841

So humility is essential to

everything about being a Christian.

842

You can't love people

without being humble.

843

'cause if you're all, if all

you're thinking about is yourself,

844

you're never gonna love someone.

845

Think about that in a, in a relationship.

846

Would you, would you wanna be in a

relationship with someone who only

847

thought about themself that would stink?

848

Right.

849

What, oh, what do you wanna do tonight?

850

Well, I really like this.

851

You don't wanna do that day

in, day out worship, right?

852

You only worship if you're humble.

853

If you, if you think all about yourself,

you're never gonna worship or faith.

854

Faith doesn't work unless you're

not thinking about, you have

855

to think about other people to,

to, to have faith, to trust God.

856

You can't be focused on yourself.

857

So humility is essential to everything

about being a Christian, and

858

humility makes everything better.

859

And that's what I want you to

take away from tonight's message.

860

So let's pray and let's

head to small groups.

861

God thank you that you sent Jesus, who,

if anyone had the right to be prideful,

862

it would be Jesus the greatest man to

ever live because he's God in the flesh.

863

But Jesus humbled himself to the point

of death, death on the cross, to be

864

shamefully executed for sinners like

us, and gave his life as a ransom.

865

To save people.

866

So God, I pray that you would help

us to, to follow Jesus' example, to

867

think about others, to love others,

to even approach our small groups

868

thinking about others, and help us to

put our, our selfish motives to death.

869

I pray that you purify us.

870

I pray that you help us to learn

how to, to fight for humility.

871

And I pray that you help us to

take our focus off of ourselves

872

and put it ultimately onto you.

873

'cause we wanna follow

you and we wanna love you.

874

We pray this in Jesus name.

875

Amen.