Ambition | Zach Zehnder

What will your life ultimately be known for? The series concludes by challenging us to pursue a godly ambition—serving others so our lives point people to Jesus.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hi, and thank you for listening to this message from Shepard's Gate Church, located in Kelby Township, Michigan. To learn more about Shepard's Gate and to access more content, visitgatechurch.org.

SPEAKER_02 0:17

Well, good morning. What a blessing to be back with you again today. You guys have a really great church. You know that? Hey, may give yourselves a round of applause. I'm a little conflicted today because I love glimpsing into the throne room. I didn't imagine as many lions and pistons fan around that throne room. I'm not sure what to think about that. The scriptures say something about preparing a table in the presence of my enemies. But we're not enemies because I got people from Detroit, amen? What a blessing it is. And I was here to kick off serving challenge five, six weeks ago. And I love being a part of this church because if you weren't here, there's a family history here. My grandfather, Ronald Zender, served as the interim pastor here for a couple of years in the late 1990s. And one of my most favorite parts was just getting to hear stories about my grandpa. And there were a few stories that stood out. So many of you talked about, he's from Ypsilani, how he would drive even in the winter through the snow, even if it was only gonna be a short or not a lot of people that would show up. He would drive and be faithful. And I was like, man, that's really cool. I probably get my courage from my grandpa. One of you said that the very first time that he came to preach here at Shepherd's Gate, he says there's good news and bad news. The good news is that I'm here and I'm serving as your interim. The bad news is you're gonna love me so much that you're not gonna want me to leave. And so I think I got my arrogance and my humor from my grandpa too. But the person that said that is, by the way, said, Hey, a couple weeks in. I thought he was arrogant at first, but he was right. I didn't want him to leave. So it's a really special, sweet time. And I love being up in the state of Michigan. Fago pop? Huh? Is it pop or soda here? Oh wow, that's pretty unanimous. Okay. I saw three kinds out there: cherry, root beer, and then rock rock and rye. Which which one do I have? Do I have cherry?

unknown 2:20

Rock and rye. Rock and rye.

SPEAKER_02 2:22

Oh, okay. It's not even like a hand raise, it's like a rock and rye. Okay. Okay, we'll do the rock and rye then. Very good. Passionate people helping here in Detroit. We've been talking a lot about serving, and before I jump into today's message, I want to honor a servant that's here. Uh, she's actually uh been on my red letter team for over three years, and uh, she serves as our customer relationship manager. And believe it or not, we've never met in person. She's from Detroit, and she is here. Can we give it up for Brenda and her friend Brittany today joining us? It's such a blessing to have you here. Uh, she's the backbone, keeps me safe. Uh, sane, I should well, safe probably too, but sane, and uh has been a part of helping 1,300 churches go through a 40-day challenge like this. And so, what a blessing to see your work and to physically meet you here today. It's pretty awesome to worship with you. So, oh man, what a fun morning already. Here we go. On April 15th, 1888, a man looked at the morning newspaper. Anyone still read the newspaper today? And he looked at the newspaper and he saw a story. And the story that he read, to his surprise and horror, is that he had died the day before. The headline read, The Merchant of Death is dead. And the heading right underneath it, Dr. Alfred Noble, who made a fortune by finding ways to kill more people faster than ever before, died yesterday. And later in the obituary, he was nicknamed the Dynamite King because Alfred Nobel was credited in inventing dynamite. Now, a couple of really interesting things about this particular article. Number one, it's kind of interesting that you would read about your death if you're still alive. And secondly, though, and even more importantly, it's a rare opportunity that somebody got to glimpse what people would say about him when it was all said and done. And Alfred Nobel got the opportunity to see this is the narrative, this is what my story reads. And he had the unique opportunity to see it on a headline and to change it. And we know Dr. Alfred Nobel not probably as the dynamite king. In fact, many of you probably even know he was credited for inventing it. But we know him rather for something else. What do we know him for? The Nobel Peace Prize, coming up with likely the most prestigious and one of the most honorable awards given to those who have the greatest benefit on humankind. And so, in some ways, I'm thinking that's kind of a blessing to be able to see what people say about you when you're dead. It forced him to ask the question, and the question I want to ponder with you today is how will I be remembered? What's your story? What's your narrative? What and how will you be remembered? It's such an important question, and I don't think we go there often enough. And if you were reading along in the book yesterday was day 40, we had the awesome opportunity to hang out with Pastor Tim and his wife Lisa, which by the way, you have a special pastor, special pastor's wife, special staff here. Can you give it up for them? Such a great, such a great team. And while we had a great day, it was kind of odd because they were planning their funeral. And the reason they were planning it was because that was the challenge for the day yesterday that they read about. You know, think about your life at the end. Like who will be there? Who will say something and what would they say? And so it was kind of a morbid day with the Bollingers yesterday. But in some ways I was flattered because they were actually doing the challenge. How will you be remembered? It's a kind of a helpful exercise. And I've been challenging you with great questions. We started with the first question of what does it take to be great? We reminded you, I reminded you that you were created to be great. Sometimes we get uncomfortable in Christian circles because we love talking about and thinking about and uh in in awe of the greatness of God, but we also know the truth that God, who is great, created you in his image, which means you are, by the way, created also to be great. And many of us are not living up to the potential that God has created inside of us. And I don't say that to you so that you would experience shame, but rather the opportunity. The opportunity that God created you to be great. And you don't need to worry about if you are living a great life. God is not threatened when you do great things, He's just fine. We sang about it earlier, remember that? We're singing about how he's seated on the throne right now, and how the most powerful angels are in triple replicate talking about the characteristic of God's holiness, and there's there's there's mountains bowing down and thunder clapping. Like, God is doing pretty good right now, wouldn't you say? So he's not threatened like when some of you do something great and be like, man, they're stealing my glory. He's doing just fine. Trust me. But what does it take to be great? We've explored that over the 40 days, and it is not a path that the world will tell you, but it is a path that Jesus lays out very beautifully and simply the path of a servant. And there is no greater servant than Jesus. And so over the 40 days, we've looked at the five aspects to serve like Jesus, that it starts with our attitudes, our minds, our brains, that when we look into Jesus, what we see is he had this amazing attitude that that had a deep love for you and for me, and that drove everything for him. We then looked at the second aspect, which is probably my weakest availability, kind of a practical aspect. If I might have the heart and I might know the right things and the mindset to want to serve, but sometimes my calendar's so busy, I don't feel like I have margin, and sometimes I treat people like tasks, and that's not fair. Are you available? We said that week that God will work more through the available than the able. Then we looked at the third aspect, action. So many of us, we might have the right heart and we might have the desire, maybe even the margin, but but for whatever reason, we we refuse to step out. Action. When you look at the emotion of Jesus, the most common emotion ascribed to him in the gospels is compassion. And yet when you look at the compassion of Jesus, there's always a word that follows compassion. It follows it directly after it when ascribed to Jesus. It's compassion, what's the word? Compassion and compassion and action. It wasn't enough for Jesus to just feel for somebody. He acted upon it. Then we looked at ability. And yeah, while God will work more through the available than the able, the secret sauce, I really believe, is that when you who are available also understand how God has uniquely wired you, how he's given you an ability. In the Bible, they're called spiritual gifts, and you can't make God move, but you can make room for God to move. And I believe that happens when you're available and using your God-given ability for his glory. The Holy Spirit is given an opportunity to move in mighty ways. And so today we turn our final attention to the fifth aspect, ambition. You were reading about it this last week, and so it's how how we're landing the plane today. Ambition's not a word we talk about in church circles very much because there's a good kind of ambition and a bad kind of ambition. The definition of ambition is simply this: a strong desire to achieve something, typically requiring determination and hard work. That to me is not a bad thing. That's a good thing. It's funny in Christian circles, we'll throw out words like love and trust and joy all the time, even though there's a healthy and unhealthy version of each of those words, right? There are misordered loves, misguided trust, trivial joy. Yet we don't throw out those words, but sometimes we throw out the word ambition. We don't use it very much because, well, you can have a personal or a selfish ambition. So yeah, there's a healthy and unhealthy, but nothing wrong with it at its definition. God has made us to be people of ambition. The question, though, is what's your strong desire? What do you want to achieve? What are you working hard for? What are you determined to see no matter the cost? I would pause it for you that your ambition ought to be the same as Christ's. And we've been learning about how Jesus served us in the Christ hymn of Philippians 2. And today we land the plane in verses 9 through 11. You see, earlier in verses 5 through 8, it talks about servant Jesus and how serving is really an elevator descending downward. It talks about how Jesus, who was on the throne, gave that up and became a human and became a human ob and then became a servant, and then a servant obedient to death, and even the humiliating death upon a cross. And then everything flips at verse 9, and it says this this is the ambition that God cares about, the ambition that I want you to care about, that therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledged. Come on, let's say these words together, that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Can I get an amen? That's what it's about. It's about the end, it's about pointing people to Jesus that more tongues would acknowledge, more knees would bow at the name of Jesus Christ. This is our ambition as followers of Jesus. So, is that what you'll be remembered for? How will you be remembered? Big questions like what does it take to be great? How can I live a significant life? How will I be remembered? And I think they're great questions, but today I want to ask what I think is a better first question. Because sometimes I think it's so obvious that we just kind of pass over what might be a better first question. And I think sometimes I know things that I assume you know, and you know things that you assume I know, but that's not always the case. For instance, I just learned this the other day. I love, I make a really good guacamole, but I would always get really frustrated when I'd put the guac in the fridge and the next day it'd be like brown. Anyone else have this problem? It's a major problem in our world, isn't it? And so I looked on the internet and it said the way to fix that is you you keep the pits of the avocado in the guacamole, and now all of a sudden it's greener. And it's true. And I was like, why didn't anybody ever tell me that? I've lived 42 years of my life. Did you know that? Well, shame on you that say yes. And if you didn't, now you know because I told you how nice of some of you, that's their major your major takeaway today. It's like I now know how to make a good guacamole. But sometimes we we just kind of skirt over what's obvious, and so I just want to take one more crack at it today of helping you see how you can be great, how you can be significant, how you can be remembered for something that matters. And to get to the first question that I want you to ask, we're gonna find the answer in the most obvious of places. The world of competitive eating. And I'm not talking about Rochester yesterday at the park where they actually did have a hot dog eating contest at noon yesterday. I'm talking about the hot dog eating contest in Coney Island on July 4th when the best eaters in the world descend to see how many hot dogs they can stuff down their throats in 10 minutes. Anybody that knows anything about the world of competitive eating knows that there is a goat, a greatest of all time, and his name is Joey Chestnut. This guy is the goat. The world record is he slammed 75 hot dogs down his mouth in 10 minutes. 21,000 calories, six pounds. In 10 minutes. Something doesn't seem right about that. Chestnut has won the last nine that he's been a part of, he's won 17 total times. He's so dominant that in 2022 he not only won the contest by 15 and a half dogs, but in the middle of it, a protester somehow got on the stage and he choke slammed him in the middle of it. It's real, you can Google it. Isn't that crazy? But what most people in the kind of elementary school of hot dog eating don't know is that before there was the goat chestnut, there was a previous goat, and I heard somebody say his name. He goes by one name, it's not Pele, it's not LeBron, it's not Badonna, it's Kobayashi. This guy right here. And he entered onto the scene in 2001, five foot eight, baby face. He was so skinny, the contestants mocked him because their thighs were bigger than his stomach. Now, if we enter into the annals of hot dog history, which I know you were looking forward to getting into this morning, where's this going, Zach? I'll maybe land the plane. We'll see. In 2001, the record for the most hot dogs eaten was 25. Keep in mind this started in 1916. So in 85 years, went from zero to 25. And that's the year, 2001, that Kobayashi entered the scene and on his very first attempt set a world record. Now, you would expect something that had gotten up to 25 over 85 years. Maybe the world record would go to, I don't know, 27, 28. Gosh, could it go to 30, which would be a 20% improvement? That'd be crazy. World records don't do that. And on his very first attempt, do you know how many hot dogs Kobayashi consumed? 50. He doubled a world record that had taken 85 years to get to that point. That's wild. That just doesn't happen. And so, of course, there were so many people that had opinions about how he did this. Speculation was that he cheated, that he took a muscle relaxant, that he swallowed some stones to expand his stomach. There were conspirators that even thought Kobayashi was part of a Japanese government plot to humiliate us on our independence day, no less. And they surgically implanted a second esophagus or a second stomach. How did he really do it? The authors of the book Think Like a Freak interviewed Kobayashi. Probably a pretty good title. And what Kobayashi did that nobody had done prior, that now everybody does, is he asked a better, more important first question. You see, for 85 years, people were asking this question: How do I eat more hot dogs? And just slightly altering it, Kobayashi asked it in this way How do I make hot dogs easier to eat? And by changing the question a little bit, it allowed him to experiment and do things that nobody'd ever done. Kobayashi was the first one to not eat the hot dog and the bun together. He was the first one to break the hot dog in half, which, if you're an Old Testament scholar, that's known as the King Solomon method. Some of you will get that later, or you'll look it up. And feel free, get in the Old Testament, it's good stuff. He was the first one to dip the hot dog and the bun in water, which soggy buns don't taste good, but they do go down easier and provide hydration so you don't have to stop to drink. And now, everybody, including the current goat chestnut, copies Kobayashi. He changed the question. And again, I think we ask some good questions. What does it take to be great? How can I have a significant life? Nobody at the end wants their obituary red and to be known for something evil, and nobody at the end wants their obituary red and wants them to say something like, you know, he had, he was like the most mediocre person I knew. We want significance, we want meaning, we want purpose. How will I be remembered? A good question. Great question. But uh sometimes it's so obvious, and Jesus says it so plainly that to me, for followers of Jesus, the most important first question is simply kind of along these lines. Will you serve like Jesus? Because for 40 days we've been teaching you and showing you through Jesus' words and his life, that greatness, that significance, that fulfillment, that joy, happiness come not by the way, world's ways, but rather through the way of Jesus, the way of a servant. And some of you know that to be true. Some of you have had that in your own life, or you've seen others that have kind of climbed the world's ways, the world's ways of success, and you've climbed that ladder really high only to find out you got to the top and you're as empty as ever. Exhausted, depressed, lonely, tired, and wondering, did this, did this, all of this, even matter? What we learn in the scripture and through Jesus is that the most significant people are servants of Jesus. Period. But are you willing to serve? That's gonna be the answer to all the other big questions. And I think we're living in a time where as a whole we we really need the people of God to step up, to step out and serve. I think we're living in one of the most pivotal times in human history, and maybe every generation says that, but don't you kind of think that? Especially with the rise of like everything around 2000, with the rise of technology and the internet and social media and iPhones and now artificial intelligence. I think that if the world, it's hard to imagine what the world in five or ten, even a hundred or two hundred, two thousand years looks like for now, but I think they're gonna read about this time period in history, all of this human advancement. And yet I've noticed something that in periods of great human advancement, what typically happens is collectively, people strive towards a personal ambition, a selfish ambition, a human ambition rather than a godly ambition. We have examples of this in the Bible. Actually, if you open into the early book, Genesis, Genesis chapter 11, there was a group of people that came together to build the Tower of Babel, and they came together and they said this: Let's build a tower, ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for who? For ourselves. Not for the glory of God, but for our own name, for our own ambition. And that was, of course, when the people were scattered. It would continue through the Old Testament as you look at the Israelites, and God showed up for them miracle after miracle after miracle, actually inherited the promised land and won battle after battle after battle that they didn't deserve to win. And yet, in all of that, with all of this success, all of this prosperity that God had given to the Israelite people, at some point, this group that was called to represent Christ as served. To the rest of the world, so the rest of the world would know who he is, at some point settled for a mediocre life. And they asked King Samuel, one of the most tragic chapters in all the Old Testament hey, can you pray to God on our behalf so that we can have a king just like, and so we can be like the other nations? It's so sad. The pull of this world is really strong, and it's gonna tell you different ways to be significant, to be great, to be remembered. And yet, through it all, the opportunity is to serve like Jesus. And that's what matters most. As we look at kind of where we are right now, and as you look at where you live, more and more people need Jesus than ever. Amen. In the state of Michigan, uh, 19 years ago, 79% of people adhered to a belief in Jesus Christ. Today, that number is 61%. Still a majority, but now it's three out of five, not four out of five. And Barna is a research company, and they've done research not only on Michigan, but the whole nation, and they found that now in our nation, it's one in every five or one in every six people, somewhere in there, is what's labeled as a practicing Christian. And so if you do the math, you'll see that about half of the people that you interact with that you see every day, every other person is, I don't know, a non-practicing Christian, whatever that is. Somehow there's a lot of people that have kind of believed in Jesus, and so their eternity is secure, and that's a beautiful thing, but a lot of those people with a secure eternity are living according to the world's ways, not the way of Jesus. And as they're living according to the world's ways, they feel good about their eternity, but they're struggling right now in their lives. And this is the great opportunity that we live in right now. The great problem, the great challenge in our nation, in your state, in your city, in your surrounding areas, some in your families, is there are far too many non-pracing, confused Christians that believe in Jesus but aren't living like him. And the great opportunity is as they live like him, well, they'll start to live remarkable, great, significant lives. Now I showed you a couple of negative examples from Scripture. I would say a positive example is what happened with the disciples after Jesus ascended. These eleven, they added a 12th, and this group of 12 really served their community. It's what every modern-day church wants to be like, the Acts Church. They served their community, they were known for their generosity, they were known for meeting the needs of those not only in their community, but also and especially those inside of their church. They cared for one another, they broke bread together, they came, they came together and and and they opened up their word and says they devoted themselves to prayer. All these beautiful things of serving one another. And the church exploded. This group of people didn't run away from the world's problems, they actually ran into the world's problems. Why? Because they have Jesus in their life. And if anybody in this world, Christians are not called to retreat from the world's problems, but to enter in and provide Jesus to those people. Amen? And it went from 12 to about 6 million people in just a couple hundred years, and now this movement has two billion people. And that feels big. That feels, it's awesome, and it is big, but but there are people in your everyday that need you to step up and serve like Jesus. There is a struggling sibling, there is a confused Christian, there is a lonely friend that could use you. And you can't do everything, but you can do something. And I really believe that every day there is an opportunity that God puts before you to serve somebody else. And the best way to ensure you're living with a godly ambition is to represent Christ to those around us. And that's what I love so much about this church is you're not only reading through this and going through messages and small groups, but but literally next Sunday, you are not worshiping here in this space. And the weekend, Friday through Sunday, you have something called step out and serve. That's pretty sweet. Like I there's not many people that love to come and worship Jesus on a Sunday more than I do. But I also think at some point the people of Jesus have to get out there into the communities to serve. And as and and you are attempting something really bold, really big, really brave. It's not the first time you've done it, there's a history of it, but but next weekend we are believing for 589 of you stepping out and serving. Come on, give yourselves a round of applause. That's awesome. What a noble thing to go out in and by the way, you're still about 80 short, so I'm prophesying today. We're gonna get that 589. You procrastinators, today's the day. Let's sign up, let's complete it, let's do it. But what a cool opportunity because not only do you get to show others who Jesus is, how you serve, but you're making a difference in their life. Jesus says that you are the light of the world and to shine your light so that others may see your good deeds and glorify not you, not your name, but glorify your Father in heaven. And I love hearing stories about how next weekend you're gonna be serving widows and single moms inside of your church, but also outside of your community. You're gonna represent Jesus to them. That's a really sweet thing. And at the same time, I think if you're like me, I know that you don't always get it right. And that's why I'm so blessed to have, we are so blessed to have this Savior. That when we get this wrong, when we live with selfish ambition, when we get too caught up in the world's ways, when we get so consumed by human advancement that we forget why we're here, when we live for a purpose that is less than what is best. How integrate and how gracious is our God, that he does not wait for you and for me to clean everything up, but rather I love what Romans 5.8 says, that he demonstrates his love for us in this, that while we were still sinners, Christ died and for us. And through his grace, we get another opportunity to serve like Jesus. And so, how will you be remembered? What's your story? I love what C.S. Lewis once said. He said, you can't go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending. Isn't that cool? That's what kind of Dr. Alfred Nobel got to see on a newspaper. I can't change what has happened up to this point, but I can change the narrative of where I go from here. And I'm here to tell you that decisions that you make today matter for who you become and what generations after you look like. You guys got to know my grandpa if you were here 20-some years ago for a couple of years, but maybe you don't know that before my grandpa there was a guy named C.R. Zender. That was my grandpa's dad, my great-grandpa, C.R. I love those initials. First name stood for Clement. Anybody named Clement here today? Well, maybe after today you'll name your baby Clement. I think it's a beautiful name. Maybe not. But I never got to meet my great-grandpa. He actually passed pretty early on. But what I love about my great-grandpa is that he made a decision a hundred years ago that I'm not just going to believe in Jesus, but I'm going to give my life to serving Jesus. And because he made that decision, I believe that there are still ripple effects that I'm feeling today because of a decision he made a hundred years ago. Now, you don't have to be a fourth generation Lutheran pastor to hear this, but there you might be the person that starts the legacy in your family and that generations later get to experience that yes, because of Jesus, I get to stand on the broadest shoulders ever. And also because of people that have gone before me, my great-grandpa, my grandpa, my dad, and even better than all them were the wives that were with them. I get to stand on really broad shoulders, and I'm still getting the ripple positive effects of a decision that he made a hundred years ago. And I don't know that I'd be standing here in front of you today if he, C.R. Zender, didn't make that decision. Choices you make today matter. And you can't change where you've been, but by the grace of Jesus Christ, you can change where you are. And the ending can be so much better, so much greater, so much more significant, so much more remarkable. I started saying, how strange that a guy got to read about his death before he died and had a chance to change. And I, as crazy as is for Alfred Nobel to go through that, I then started thinking, there's another story about a guy that died, that's not dead. You could say that Alfred Nobel, his death was a life-changing moment, wouldn't you say? But there's somebody else that died. That's a life-changing moment for you and for me. And his name is Jesus. He was dead, but he's alive again. Jesus gets to read about how he was once dead as he's seated on the throne now. And his death and resurrection was for you. He served you so that you might know him, so that you might receive his grace, so that, yeah, your eternity is secure, but absolutely, yeah, your life matters today and how you live. Well, it can be pretty remarkable, very significant, and great. This is the opportunity you have to be remembered. To live with meaning. Far more than anything, whether they actually remember your name or not. To live so that one day every tongue would confess that Jesus Christ is Lord and every knee bow. At the name of Jesus Christ. This is remarkable. And this is why you're here. Amen? Let me pray for you.

SPEAKER_01 33:30

Lord, what a blessing. You are so good to us. You have stepped out and served us way better than we deserve.

SPEAKER_02 33:44

When we were sinking, when we were failing, when we were stuck, you came down into our story and rescued us and gave us another chance. Gave us grace. So, Lord, I pray that anyone here that's been beaten down by the world and that feels low and feels like they're stuck would receive your grace anew today. And with that new grace working inside of them and the Holy Spirit power that comes with that, God, would you change our hearts? Our hearts that in the past have beat for our name, for our purposes, for our kingdoms. Lord, would you change them so that our hearts would beat for your kingdom, your purposes, for your children. Use each and every one of us in whatever way you want. Lord, you are worth everything in our very best. We pray this in your name, and together the church says, Amen.

SPEAKER_00 34:47

We hope this message was helpful to you today, and we welcome you to join us live in person or online every Sunday. If you're interested in accessing more on demand content, please visit Etsgatechurch.org,