SPEAKER_00: To be gathered this morning to lift your name high, to sing together to you.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for making it possible for us to uh gather together as your church through sending your son Jesus to die on our behalf, to rise from the dead, in order to gather us back to yourself.
SPEAKER_00: Father, thank you for your word that you've chosen to speak to us in order that we might know you savingly.
SPEAKER_00: God, I ask that this morning we would hear you speak through your word to us all so that we might know you more and love you more, and that we might um take uh your glory, take your message out into the world in order to love and serve those around us.
SPEAKER_00: For Jesus' sake, we pray all these things in his name.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: You can go ahead and grab a seat.
SPEAKER_00: Good morning.
SPEAKER_00: Um should I back up?
SPEAKER_00: If I haven't met you yet, my name is Jeremiah.
SPEAKER_00: I'm the College Ministry Director here, and I am super grateful for the privilege of getting to open up God's Word with you all this morning.
SPEAKER_00: Um we have been uh walking through the gospel of Luke, the book of Luke, and um we're gonna continue that today.
SPEAKER_00: And um here at Skyline Church, we talk quite a bit about following Jesus, which seems like a good thing to do if um you're a church.
SPEAKER_00: Uh so we talk a lot about following Jesus because the Bible talks a lot about following Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Um I'm a big fan of simple, basic questions.
SPEAKER_00: Um, and and the question that I want us to ask this morning is um if I follow Jesus, uh where am I following him to?
SPEAKER_00: Like where where is he gonna take me?
SPEAKER_00: Where would he take me if I followed Jesus?
SPEAKER_00: It was a pretty simple question, but I think sometimes the simple, basic questions um sometimes have the most uh insight or spiritual um benefit for us.
SPEAKER_00: And um to kind of give some context for that question, maybe, maybe, you're uh sitting here this morning and you're in high school or college and you've grown up a Christian and you've been a Christian as long as you can remember.
SPEAKER_00: And the older you get, the more you uh are starting to reflect on what you believe, not just what your family believes.
SPEAKER_00: And in your mind and heart, you are weighing if you think this whole Christianity thing is true.
SPEAKER_00: And if it's true, uh is it worth following in your own life as you head into adulthood?
SPEAKER_00: Like where, if I if I followed Jesus myself, where might he take me?
SPEAKER_00: Or maybe you finished uh college a few years ago and you're now a young professional in the city of Denver.
SPEAKER_00: Um and as you spend more time in contact with the real world, um, you're starting to reflect on your faith in ways that you haven't before.
SPEAKER_00: And the the farther you go down the road of following Jesus, the more visible the differences are between you and your non-Christian friends or family or coworkers.
SPEAKER_00: It might even be the case that you feel your Christian faith is causing hardships and difficulties and struggles in your life that your non-Christian friends and family and coworkers don't seem to have to worry about.
SPEAKER_00: Or you may see a lot of other people your age or in your stage of life who are not Christians but who are doing well professionally, who are popular socially, who have a wider dating pool to swim around in, and who don't have a church that's constantly competing for their time and attention.
SPEAKER_00: Um you might start reflecting on your faith and asking, why am I here?
SPEAKER_00: Um, why am I following Jesus?
SPEAKER_00: Where if this where is he taking me?
SPEAKER_00: Is this where he's taking me to to uh in comparison to where other people are going?
SPEAKER_00: Um or maybe maybe you're a little bit farther down the road, and maybe you're a few more decades into your adult life, and at some point in your past you decided to follow Jesus and you genuinely gave it your best shot.
SPEAKER_00: Um you you haven't been perfect by any means, but you've you've trusted him, you've trusted God's word, you've sought to follow him, um, you've you've uh done your best to fight against sin in your life, to be faithful to your spouse, to love your children.
SPEAKER_00: Um but nevertheless, uh you look at your life around you, and maybe your professional life has taken some hits that you didn't think it would take.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe your family life has taken some hits that you didn't think it would take.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe your health has taken some hits that you didn't think it would take.
SPEAKER_00: And um and uh in many ways you might look at your life and think, I followed Jesus because I trusted him, and I'm not sure where he's taking me.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not sure where he's taken me.
SPEAKER_00: Um why did I follow him if things have panned out the way that they have currently panned out?
SPEAKER_00: Um so each one of those uh kind of contexts uh is is it can lead to this question of like why follow Jesus?
SPEAKER_00: Like, where will Jesus take me if I follow him?
SPEAKER_00: And I want to explore that question um this morning.
SPEAKER_00: Uh if we follow Jesus, where can we expect him to take us?
SPEAKER_00: Um do we want to go where he's going?
SPEAKER_00: That's what it means to follow somebody.
SPEAKER_00: You go where they're going.
SPEAKER_00: Do I want to go where Jesus is going?
SPEAKER_00: Um if so, then we can follow him.
SPEAKER_00: If not, then we can't.
SPEAKER_00: It's that simple.
SPEAKER_00: Um, last week Jesus went up on a mountain and uh with a select group of his disciples, and he was transfigured.
SPEAKER_00: Um, his his divine majesty became visible, he shone bright.
SPEAKER_00: Um, these two influential Old Testament prophets, Moses and Elijah, popped up and they started to speak with him, quote, of his departure, of Jesus' departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_00: Um there are a few keywords.
SPEAKER_00: This is just situating context for our text today.
SPEAKER_00: There's a few keywords used where uh that that kind of draw the whole book of Luke together.
SPEAKER_00: If you're looking for a big picture of the book of Luke, um, those words, uh, Jesus is going to accomplish his departure at Jerusalem, um, kind of give us a picture of the whole book of Luke as as one giant narrative.
SPEAKER_00: Chapter 1, verse 1 refers to what Luke is about to write as a narrative of the things that have been accomplished among us.
SPEAKER_00: The NIV translates that as an account of the things that have been fulfilled among us.
SPEAKER_00: So that's chapter 1, verse 1.
SPEAKER_00: And then at the end of the book of Luke, in chapter 24, verses 44 to 48, after he raises from the dead, Jesus says, These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.
SPEAKER_00: It is written that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_00: So the book of Luke is an account of what Jesus, the Christ, would accomplish at Jerusalem through suffering and dying and rising from the dead.
SPEAKER_00: That's the whole that's the big picture of the book of Luke.
SPEAKER_00: He's going to fulfill or accomplish something at Jerusalem through dying and rising from the dead.
SPEAKER_00: And last week we saw that he is transfigured on this mountain, his divine majesty is put on display, Moses and Elijah pop up and they start talking about his departure, which he is going to accomplish, the NIV will say fulfill at Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_00: So that's the that's the narrative, that's the plot of the book of Luke.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is on his way to accomplish something at Jerusalem through dying and rising from the dead.
SPEAKER_00: And then every part of the book of Luke finds its place in that bigger story.
SPEAKER_00: Does that make sense?
SPEAKER_00: Each piece finds its place in that larger story.
SPEAKER_00: So now our passage today, and I apologize, I didn't have slides.
SPEAKER_00: So if you if you want to see it, it's in Luke chapter 9, verse 37.
SPEAKER_00: Luke chapter 9, verse 37.
SPEAKER_00: Our passage today picks up where last week left off.
SPEAKER_00: Last week, our passage ended with Jesus going up a mountain where he was transfigured.
SPEAKER_00: Moses and Elijah talk about his departure, that he's going to accomplish at Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_00: And now our passage says, um, on the next day, when they had come down from the mountain, this is chapter 9, verse 37.
SPEAKER_00: On the next day, when they had come down from the mountain, so picking up where we left off, a great crowd met him.
SPEAKER_00: And behold, a man from the crowd cried out, Teacher, I beg you to look at my son, for he is my only child.
SPEAKER_00: And behold, a spirit seizes him, and he suddenly cries out.
SPEAKER_00: It convulses him so that he foams at the mouth and shatters him and will hardly leave him.
SPEAKER_00: And I begged your disciples to cast it out, but they could not.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus answered, O faithless and twisted generation, how long am I to be with you and to bear with you?
SPEAKER_00: Bring your son here.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, let's focus on Jesus' words here.
SPEAKER_00: That's normally a good place to focus, the words of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: In the book of Luke, when Jesus refers to his generation, he's the faithless twisted generation.
SPEAKER_00: When he refers to his generation, it's an expansive term referring to the whole of Israel at that specific time.
SPEAKER_00: The whole kind of group of Israel as one lump sum at that specific time.
SPEAKER_00: A similar way of speaking is how today we'll use the word culture.
SPEAKER_00: We'll say, our culture is obsessed with financial security and comfort.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus would say, this generation is obsessed with financial security and comfort.
SPEAKER_00: Or if we say this is an entertainment-driven culture, Jesus would say, this is an entertainment-driven generation.
SPEAKER_00: So the word generation and the word culture are ways of referring to large groups of people as kind of one whole, and of characterizing those large groups with certain qualities or characteristics.
SPEAKER_00: There was something, so Jesus uses the words faithless and twisted to refer to his generation.
SPEAKER_00: There was something about the situation that we just read about this crowd and this man with his son and his disciples being unable to cast it out.
SPEAKER_00: Something about that led Jesus to say, O faithless and twisted generation.
SPEAKER_00: This is what we call a lament.
SPEAKER_00: It's an expression of grief, of pain.
SPEAKER_00: Though the need for this boy to be healed was urgent, Jesus pauses and gives us a glimpse into his internal world, into his thought life, into his emotional life.
SPEAKER_00: He gives us heavy and painful words, faithless and twisted generation.
SPEAKER_00: When Jesus uses the words faithless and twisted, he's borrowing from an Old Testament book called Deuteronomy.
SPEAKER_00: In Deuteronomy chapter 32, Moses uses several similar words to refer to Israel.
SPEAKER_00: I'll actually give you a list of the words Moses uses to refer to his generation.
SPEAKER_00: He calls them a blemished, crooked, twisted, perverse, and faithless generation who had sold themselves out to idols.
SPEAKER_00: That's Deuteronomy 32.
SPEAKER_00: You can read it.
SPEAKER_00: All of those adjectives are there in connection with this generation, this generation, this generation.
SPEAKER_00: And in Deuteronomy 32, Moses said that because of the twistedness, the crookedness, the faithlessness of that generation, God would heap disasters upon them.
SPEAKER_00: So when Jesus used the words faithless and twisted to refer to his generation, he was doing two things.
SPEAKER_00: Number one is he was comparing the Israelites of his day with the Israelites of Moses' day, and he was foreshadowing their impending judgment.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus repeatedly throughout the book of Luke prophesied about the coming judgment of this generation.
SPEAKER_00: This will pop up over and over in the book of Luke.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus refers to the judgment coming upon this generation.
SPEAKER_00: And he always ties their judgment to their unbelief and their moral twistedness.
SPEAKER_00: So believe it or not, entire generations or entire cultures can become so deeply shaped by sin that it's possible to refer to them as characterized by sin as a whole.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, the Bible tells us that this kind of large-scale generational or cultural sinfulness is not the exception, but is actually the norm for large groups of people.
SPEAKER_00: That the basic human tendency, both individually and collectively, is toward sin.
SPEAKER_00: The sinfulness and twistedness of each generation or culture may look different, but just because sin takes a different shape in one generation or culture doesn't make it any less sinful.
SPEAKER_00: And just like with the Israelites of Moses' day, and just like the Jews of Jesus' day, God remains committed to judging sin at the level of the individual and on much larger scales as well.
SPEAKER_00: And fundamental to the call to follow Jesus is the call to recognize how entrenched sin is in our particular world and renounce it, repent from it, and be washed from it, following after Jesus instead of the world.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna say that again.
SPEAKER_00: Fundamental to the call to following Jesus is the call to recognize how entrenched sin is in our particular world and renounce it, repent from it, be washed from it, following after Jesus instead of the world.
SPEAKER_00: If we do this, what should we expect?
SPEAKER_00: That's the question that we're asking this morning.
SPEAKER_00: If I repent and follow Jesus, where is he gonna take me?
SPEAKER_00: Let's pick up in verse 42, where Jesus says, Bring your son here.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 43.
SPEAKER_00: While he was coming, that's the boy, while the boy was coming, the demon threw him to the ground and convulsed him.
SPEAKER_00: But Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit and healed the boy and gave him back to his father.
SPEAKER_00: And they were astonished at the majesty of God.
SPEAKER_00: But while they were marveling at everything he was doing, Jesus said to his disciples, Let these words sink into your ears.
SPEAKER_00: The Son of Man is about to be delivered into the hands of men.
SPEAKER_00: So Jesus healed this boy, returned him to his father, but the crowd was much more impressed than he was.
SPEAKER_00: All were astonished at the majesty of God, but Jesus doesn't pause and take a moment to bask in the praise of the crowd.
SPEAKER_00: He's locked in on a mission, and he turns to his disciples because he wants his disciples to be locked in on the same thing that he's locked in on.
SPEAKER_00: While they were marveling, that's the crowd.
SPEAKER_00: While the crowd was marveling at everything he was doing, Jesus said to his disciples, Let these words sink into your ears.
SPEAKER_00: When the Lord Jesus Christ prefaces something that strongly, we should really lean in and listen.
SPEAKER_00: Let these words sink into your ears.
SPEAKER_00: The Son of Man is about to be delivered into the hands of men.
SPEAKER_00: So while the crowd is marveling, Jesus locks in with his disciples and tells them that his life is going to be put into the hands of men.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus wanted this, he wanted this to sink into his disciples' ears.
SPEAKER_00: He wanted it to be seared on their minds and hearts.
SPEAKER_00: Miracles are nice, but there is a priority here.
SPEAKER_00: We read this earlier in the same chapter.
SPEAKER_00: The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected and be killed and on the third day rise.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus wants us to know, Jesus wants us to know that if we follow him out of our sinful generation, he is taking us on a path that leads to death.
SPEAKER_00: We are on a road that goes to a cross.
SPEAKER_00: Let these words sink into your ears.
SPEAKER_00: The Son of Man is about to be delivered into the hands of men.
SPEAKER_00: I think there's a lot for all of us to learn here about where Jesus would have us focus our time, attention, devotion.
SPEAKER_00: We'll keep moving.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 45.
SPEAKER_00: But they did not understand this saying.
SPEAKER_00: That's his disciples.
SPEAKER_00: His disciples did not understand this saying.
SPEAKER_00: And it was concealed from them so that they might not perceive it.
SPEAKER_00: And they were afraid to ask him about this saying.
SPEAKER_00: So they don't get what Jesus just said about his upcoming death.
SPEAKER_00: It was concealed from them.
SPEAKER_00: They're too afraid to ask him what it meant.
SPEAKER_00: And their ignorance about where Jesus is taking them is put on display in an argument that follows.
SPEAKER_00: Their ignorance about where Jesus is taking them, which he just said, I'm about to be delivered in the hands of men, their ignorance about that is put on display in the argument that follows.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 46.
SPEAKER_00: An argument arose among them as to which of them was the greatest.
SPEAKER_00: Do you see the sharp contrast there between what Jesus just said and what they're arguing about now?
SPEAKER_00: An argument arose among them as to which of them was the greatest.
SPEAKER_00: But Jesus, knowing the reasoning of their hearts, took a child and put him by his side and said to them, Whoever receives this child in my name receives me.
SPEAKER_00: And whoever receives me receives him who sent me.
SPEAKER_00: For he who is least among you all is the one who is great.
SPEAKER_00: So Jesus is taking his disciples to death on a cross at the hands of men.
SPEAKER_00: The disciples think he's taking them on a road to greatness.
SPEAKER_00: I would say this is an understandable mistake.
SPEAKER_00: Last week Jesus asked his disciples the all-important question, Who do you say that I am?
SPEAKER_00: And Peter gave the answer, you're the Christ of God.
SPEAKER_00: The Christ, we learned last week, was an exciting, long-awaited figure for the Jewish people.
SPEAKER_00: At the beginning of the book of Luke, the angel Gabriel, a messenger from God, shows up and says to Mary, The Lord God will give to him, that's to the Christ, the throne of his father David.
SPEAKER_00: And he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.
SPEAKER_00: So there's a throne and reigning and a kingdom.
SPEAKER_00: So that means the Christ is going to be a very powerful person.
SPEAKER_00: That's exciting.
SPEAKER_00: Because the disciples.
SPEAKER_00: Are in Jesus' inner circle.
SPEAKER_00: That's not a bad place to be.
SPEAKER_00: In the inner circle of the next ruler of the country, in the inner circle of very powerful people is a great place to be.
SPEAKER_00: They think they're on their way to greatness because they're with Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: They're with the Christ.
SPEAKER_00: They're with the up-and-coming prime minister or president or king or whatever you want to call it.
SPEAKER_00: It's time, the disciples think, it's time to save the world and get the glory.
SPEAKER_00: Now the only thing left to find out is which one of them is going to be the greatest.
SPEAKER_00: So they're all going to be great because they're with Jesus, but which one of us is going to be the greatest?
SPEAKER_00: That's what they're arguing about.
SPEAKER_00: But Jesus, knowing the reasoning of their hearts, took a child and put him by his side.
SPEAKER_00: So the reasoning of his disciples' hearts was sinful.
SPEAKER_00: It was morally wrong.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus knows their morally corrupt thinking and takes a child and sets the child next to him to teach them a lesson.
SPEAKER_00: He says, Whoever receives this child in my name receives me.
SPEAKER_00: And whoever receives me receives the one who sent me, for he who is least among you all is the one who is great.
SPEAKER_00: What is Jesus saying here?
SPEAKER_00: How is what Jesus said an antidote to a misguided grasp for greatness?
SPEAKER_00: Jesus begins by identifying with this child.
SPEAKER_00: Whoever receives this child in my name receives me.
SPEAKER_00: If you feel like Jesus portraying himself as a child is disrespectful or offensive, then I would say you're actually understanding what he's saying.
SPEAKER_00: A child is not impressive.
SPEAKER_00: A child has nothing of worldly value to offer you.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus did not come to be impressive.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus did not come to offer you things of worldly value.
SPEAKER_00: By identifying with a child, Jesus identifies with someone who is not impressive and who offers you no worldly benefit.
SPEAKER_00: So if we think that Jesus is a way to become impressive and to gain stuff that we want from this world, it reveals that we don't understand who he actually is and where he's actually taking us.
SPEAKER_00: If we think that Jesus, receiving Jesus as a way to becoming more impressive or to gaining something from this world, it reveals that we don't understand who he is and where he's actually taking us.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus did not come to increase your greatness according to the world's measurements for greatness.
SPEAKER_00: So if that's not where he what he came to do, then where is he taking us?
SPEAKER_00: Where is Jesus taking us?
SPEAKER_00: Well, if we truly renounce sin and the world, he is taking us first to a humiliating death on a narrow road of following him.
SPEAKER_00: But that's not all.
SPEAKER_00: Is Jesus, is that the end goal?
SPEAKER_00: Jesus just wants us to suffer and die.
SPEAKER_00: Is that that the end goal?
SPEAKER_00: No, he tells us in this passage that there's actually way more that he's bringing us into.
SPEAKER_00: He says, Whoever receives this child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me.
SPEAKER_00: So Jesus came not just to strip us of worldly greatness, but he came that we might know him and his father, the one who sent him, savingly.
SPEAKER_00: The one who receives me receives the one who sent me.
SPEAKER_00: So we do need to let go of the idea that Jesus came to increase our worldly greatness, whether status or wealth or popularity or reputation, career, family goals, whatever.
SPEAKER_00: We do need to let go that Jesus came to, of the idea that Jesus came to increase all those things, but we also need to grab a hold of the idea that Jesus came to bring us into a relationship with Him and His Father.
SPEAKER_00: That renouncing worldly greatness and embracing God the Father and the Son are so tightly connected that you can't have the Father and the Son without renouncing the world.
SPEAKER_00: Because the value system of the world by which it measures greatness and the value system of God and intimacy with God are diametrically opposed to each other.
SPEAKER_00: The value system of the world and what looks like friendship with the world and the value system of God and what looks like closeness and relationship with God are diametrically opposed to each other.
SPEAKER_00: I'm going to read one passage that says this very explicitly, and I want us to have in the back of our minds the argument among the disciples as we read this passage.
SPEAKER_00: They're arguing about who's the greatest.
SPEAKER_00: Ready?
SPEAKER_00: James chapter 4, verses 1 through 4.
SPEAKER_00: What causes quarrels among you, and what causes fights among you?
SPEAKER_00: Is it not this that your passions are at war within you?
SPEAKER_00: You desire and do not have, so you murder.
SPEAKER_00: You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel.
SPEAKER_00: Think about the disciples.
SPEAKER_00: Who's the greatest?
SPEAKER_00: You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel.
SPEAKER_00: You do not have because you do not ask.
SPEAKER_00: You ask and don't receive because you ask wrongly to spend it on your passions.
SPEAKER_00: You adulterous people, do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God?
SPEAKER_00: Therefore, whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.
SPEAKER_00: The value system of the world and a relationship with the Father and the Son are very, very, very opposed to each other.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus says, whoever receives this child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me.
SPEAKER_00: It contradicts the person and work of Jesus to spend your time trying to make a big deal about yourself.
SPEAKER_00: Why would we spend our time trying to make a big deal about ourselves when Jesus spent his time humbling himself in order to welcome, receive, and serve the very people who rejected and failed him?
SPEAKER_00: The pursuit of greatness is incongruent with the person of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: So the disciples' argument about who's the greatest on the surface is kind of funny, but the more we think about it in light of the gospel, the more twisted we see it really is.
SPEAKER_00: So, what's the point of following Jesus?
SPEAKER_00: It's not to get worldly greatness, but it's also not just to suffer.
SPEAKER_00: It goes through suffering into intimacy with God.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is taking us through suffering into a deep relationship with Him and the Father who sent Him.
SPEAKER_00: So what should we do?
SPEAKER_00: Rather, here's what we should do.
SPEAKER_00: Rather than climbing the ladder, whatever worldly ladder you're tempted to climb, whether that's money, beauty, power, reputation, social status, fame, etc., rather than climbing that ladder, we can descend the ladder in order to identify with, welcome, and serve those whom we can gain nothing from.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus said, Whoever receives this child in my name receives me.
SPEAKER_00: This starts by receiving Jesus as the one who made himself the least among us, living a life that by all worldly metrics looked pitifully weak and ended with him hanging alone on a cross.
SPEAKER_00: But this also then extends to receiving those people who have nothing to offer you, whether socially, politically, career-wise, financially, or otherwise.
SPEAKER_00: In Matthew 25, Jesus will talk about whatever you did to the least of these, you did to me.
SPEAKER_00: And whatever you did not do to the least of these, you did not do to me.
SPEAKER_00: So we welcome, we receive the least of these in Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_00: And in doing so, we receive Jesus Himself.
SPEAKER_00: So if we live our lives cozying up to people who have things to offer us, we're living our lives in step with the world and not in step with the Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: Because you're aligning yourself with the heart and character of God.
SPEAKER_00: If you receive the one who offers you no worldly benefit and do so because you love Jesus and you love those whom Jesus loves, you will be great in God's eyes.
SPEAKER_00: You may not have a reputation, you may not have money, you may not have power, you may not have social standing, you may lose the world, but you will have the smile of God, and that's better than the whole world.
SPEAKER_00: You will have a real relationship with God the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ, and that is way better than it is way better than the whole world.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, verse 49.
SPEAKER_00: John answered, so this is an answer to what Jesus just said.
SPEAKER_00: John answered, Master, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him because he does not follow with us.
SPEAKER_00: This is crazy ironic.
SPEAKER_00: The passage starts off with the disciples' failure to cast out a demon, and then John says, We saw someone casting out demons in your name.
SPEAKER_00: We tried to stop him because he's not following with us.
SPEAKER_00: But Jesus said to him, Do not stop him, for the one who is not against you is for you.
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
SPEAKER_00: In light of what immediately proceeds, I think it's reasonable to assume that there's quite a lot of pride at work in John's words here.
SPEAKER_00: The simplest way to put this is John wants to be special.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus, we're the ones on Team Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: We're the ones on Team Jesus, that guy's not.
SPEAKER_00: Um We're on the inner circle, we're the ones that you gave the power and authority to.
SPEAKER_00: Uh so we stopped that guy because he doesn't follow with us.
SPEAKER_00: The NIV translates this: we stopped him because he's not one of us.
SPEAKER_00: Um they don't want other people stealing the privileges of being Jesus' followers.
SPEAKER_00: We don't have time to go super deep into this one, but the bottom line of this is you will start sabotaging other people's ministry if you need to feel special.
SPEAKER_00: Um, you'll find a million reasons to defame, discredit, and damage their reputation because you feel like you need to matter.
SPEAKER_00: That you're following Jesus because you feel like you need to matter.
SPEAKER_00: And when somebody else is successfully doing something in Jesus' name that you maybe have been failing to do in your own walk with Christ, you'll begin to disparage that person because it makes you feel like you're not important.
SPEAKER_00: Um it's crazy that they try to stop this guy.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus has not given us the duty of discerning the motives of other people who are doing things in Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus has not given us the ministry of critiquing every Christian affiliated church or organization or individual.
SPEAKER_00: Um it is wrong to discount the ministry of others based on your perception of their motives, who they belong to.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus says, whoever is not against you is for you.
SPEAKER_00: If they're not opposing you, they're for you.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, this brings us to verse 51.
SPEAKER_00: When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_00: So remember, we said the big picture, the big overall story of the book of Luke is Jesus the Christ is going to fulfill or accomplish something at Jerusalem through dying and rising from the dead.
SPEAKER_00: And here we see Jesus, when the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_00: From this point forward, every step in the Gospel of Luke traces an aspect of that journey on the way to Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_00: The world and even his closest disciples don't understand who he truly is and where he's really going.
SPEAKER_00: The disciples are more concerned about benefiting politically or socially from their affiliation with him and the faith, but their faithlessness and twistedness does not jeopardize Jesus' mission or his identity or his commitment to them.
SPEAKER_00: In chapters 10 through 19, Jesus will gently and patiently instruct them on his way to Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_00: When they start having an argument about who the greatest is, Jesus doesn't say, You guys are idiots.
SPEAKER_00: I just told you I'm going to be delivered into the hands of men.
SPEAKER_00: I chose the wrong twelve.
SPEAKER_00: I'm out.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus' commitment to his disciples is not contingent upon what they understand or how virtuous they are or if they've got it all figured out or if they look a lot like him.
SPEAKER_00: They look like the faithless and twisted generation that they're supposed to be exiting.
SPEAKER_00: But Jesus remains committed to them and through the chat through chapters 10 through 19 will patiently and gently instruct them on his way to Jerusalem, where he will accomplish, through suffering and dying on a cross, the purchasing of their forgiveness of sins, rising from the dead, he will then depart to be with the Father and then pour out the Spirit upon all people from all nations who repent of their sins and trust in him.
SPEAKER_00: And that's that's those of us in this room today are here because Jesus set his face to go to Jerusalem despite the sin of his disciples.
SPEAKER_00: Where we'll land the plane here, actually, before we land the plane, Psalm 25, chap verses 8 and 9, um say this Good and upright is the Lord, therefore he instructs sinners in the way.
SPEAKER_00: Good and upright is the Lord, therefore he abandons sinners and throws them out as soon as they sin?
SPEAKER_00: No.
SPEAKER_00: Good and upright is the Lord, therefore he instructs sinners in the way.
SPEAKER_00: This is what we see in Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: The disciples are arguing over who's the greatest, they're trying to exclude people who are doing real ministry in Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus doesn't cast them off, he instructs them in the way.
SPEAKER_00: He takes a child to teach them a lesson.
SPEAKER_00: He says, Whoever's not against you is for you.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 9 of Psalm 25 says, He leads the humble in what is right and teaches the humble his way.
SPEAKER_00: So Jesus demonstrates relentless commitment to pay for his disciples' sin and to see them grown up into Christ-likeness.
SPEAKER_00: And the same is true for every one of you in this room who is a believer in Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: He is relentlessly committed to seeing you grown up into Christ-likeness.
SPEAKER_00: And he made that possible because he was relentlessly committed to forgiving you for your sins through dying on the cross.
SPEAKER_00: Where we'll land the plane now is with Jesus' lament that we started with.
SPEAKER_00: He said, Oh faithless and twisted generation.
SPEAKER_00: And then we didn't look at the second part of his lament.
SPEAKER_00: How long am I to be with you and bear with you?
SPEAKER_00: Those are Jesus' words.
SPEAKER_00: How long am I to be with you and bear with you?
SPEAKER_00: Jesus does not think sin is funny.
SPEAKER_00: He's grieved by our sin.
SPEAKER_00: Our sin is something that he must bear with.
SPEAKER_00: It was hard for the sinless son of God to be entrenched in a sinful world.
SPEAKER_00: I was given recently the book, The Brothers Karamatsov, to read, and there's a the young, if you ever read this book, the youngest son is portrayed as this very innocent, spotless child who's just grieved at all of the wickedness of his classmates and the world around him.
SPEAKER_00: He's just devastated by it.
SPEAKER_00: As that book progresses, you find out he's actually not as pure as you thought he was.
SPEAKER_00: That's not true with Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus genuinely was sinless.
SPEAKER_00: His conscience hadn't been seared by exposure to sin like all of ours have.
SPEAKER_00: He wasn't numb to constant exposure to sin like all of us are.
SPEAKER_00: He was constantly exposed to the wickedness and difficulty and foolishness and pain of sin.
SPEAKER_00: It was hard for him to be with us and to bear with us.
SPEAKER_00: And many times in the Gospels we see that he is not having a good time.
SPEAKER_00: He weeps, he gets angry, he gets frustrated, he cries out, oh, faithless intuition, how long am I to be with you and to bear with you?
SPEAKER_00: And yet he bears with us.
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't say, How long am I to be with you and bear with you?
SPEAKER_00: And then Batman like grapple hooks out into heaven again.
SPEAKER_00: Like he stays.
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't leave.
SPEAKER_00: Then he continues being with them and bearing with them.
SPEAKER_00: He chooses to be with them and bear with them, even though it's hard, even though it grieves him, even though sin is difficult for him to be around.
SPEAKER_00: He chose to immerse himself.
SPEAKER_00: When he was born, he wasn't surprised.
SPEAKER_00: Oh my goodness, I didn't realize it was this bad.
SPEAKER_00: He knew when he was in eternity past with the Father dwelling in unapproachable light and glory, he knew what was going on down here.
SPEAKER_00: And he chose to immerse himself in a world of faithless and twisted people.
SPEAKER_00: He chose to call sinful men and women to follow him as his disciples.
SPEAKER_00: And he chose to patiently instruct them in the way as he went to a cross where they would all abandon him and he would die alone.
SPEAKER_00: He sets his face to go to Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_00: Ian brought up this quote, Ian Burke, very well-read man, brought up this quote by Frederick Nietzsche, who is definitely not a Christian.
SPEAKER_00: But he did say this.
SPEAKER_00: He said, He who has a why to live can endure just about any how.
SPEAKER_00: If that sounds confusing, all this means is this.
SPEAKER_00: If you have a strong enough reason to live, you can make it through just about anything.
SPEAKER_00: If you lose your why for living, then you won't be able to endure the pain and difficulty of life.
SPEAKER_00: The only reason why Jesus bears with a sinful and twisted generation is because he had a strong enough why.
SPEAKER_00: He had a why.
SPEAKER_00: He who has a why to live can endure just about anyhow.
SPEAKER_00: He had a why.
SPEAKER_00: He sets his face to go to Jerusalem to pay for your sin and my sin.
SPEAKER_00: And therefore, the grief and difficulty of being with and bearing with sinful disciples who don't understand what he's trying to get across, who look a lot more like the world than they look like him, he was able to make it through because his love for you was greater than his grief over sin.
SPEAKER_00: It is true that it was hard for Jesus to be with and bear with sin.
SPEAKER_00: It is true that sin genuinely grieves God, but it's not true that your sin is unendurable for God.
SPEAKER_00: His love for you and commitment to you is greater than his grief over your sin, or else none of us have a chance of being saved.
SPEAKER_00: God's love overcomes your sin.
SPEAKER_00: And uh that's the whole reason Jesus went to the cross is to pay for your sin so that you could be saved from it, and his commitment to you remains.
SPEAKER_00: It's not like now that now that we're in 2026, he's like, oh, now I I don't realize they're still gonna be this sinful.
SPEAKER_00: Now that they've been following me for five years and they're still a sinner.
SPEAKER_00: It's like, forget it, I wish I hadn't died on the cross.
SPEAKER_00: That's not how Jesus feels.
SPEAKER_00: He the whole reason he went to the cross was because you're a sinner.
SPEAKER_00: Because he wanted your sin to be removed so that you could enjoy relationship with him and slowly be conformed to his image over time.
SPEAKER_00: Good and upright is the Lord, therefore he instructs sinners in the way.
SPEAKER_00: Um that's where we'll land the plane today.
SPEAKER_00: Um I'm gonna close this in prayer, and then I think we have communion.
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
SPEAKER_00: Father in heaven, thank you for your word.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for your son.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for your steadfast love.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you that you are merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love.
SPEAKER_00: That you forgive iniquity and transgression and sin.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you that you have cleared us who are guilty by visiting our iniquity on your son.
SPEAKER_00: Um thank you that we get to enjoy knowing a God who is committed to um making us more like your son Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: We ask that you would help us to rid ourselves of worldly pride that would cause us to make a big deal of it out of ourselves instead of humbly serving others and receiving your son, who humbled himself in order to serve us.
SPEAKER_00: Um, God, we ask that you would help us to take a relationship with Jesus into the world throughout the rest of our week, that we would love and serve others the way that He has loved and served us.
SPEAKER_00: And we ask these things in His name.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.