SPEAKER_00: Let's look, we're in Matthew 19.
SPEAKER_00: Last week we looked at the story of the rich young man who was told to sell his goods and give the proceeds to the poor.
SPEAKER_00: And then Jesus talked to his disciples about how hard it is for rich people to get into the kingdom of heaven.
SPEAKER_00: And what Jesus is bringing to the surface is that to enter the kingdom of heaven is a heart matter, right?
SPEAKER_00: That Jesus is dealing with people unlike the Pharisees, he's dealing with people at the heart level.
SPEAKER_00: And he's calling them to respond to the message of the kingdom in their hearts.
SPEAKER_00: And he's showing that, listen, rich people have it particularly difficult because of how riches play with their hearts.
SPEAKER_00: It makes it difficult for them to let go of their autonomy and their love, their leadership of themselves, and to surrender the leadership of their life over to God.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is in no way condemning wealth.
SPEAKER_00: What he is condemning and he is bringing to the surface is that money gets a hold of our hearts in a very unique way, and it keeps people from being able to surrender their life to Jesus and to give their life to Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And so, yeah, it's a false love.
SPEAKER_00: And so one of the things that Jesus is doing with the disciples is he's saying, This is the difficulty that exists because of wealth.
SPEAKER_00: And the disciples go, well, then who could be saved?
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus finishes off, what we finished it with was Jesus saying, What is impossible with man is possible with God.
SPEAKER_00: And so God is able to overcome even these barriers that are difficult in our hearts, which should give each of us a sense of hope.
SPEAKER_00: Whether you have already made a decision to follow Christ, or you have made that decision, but you're praying for your friends and your family and your neighbors, and it just seems like, man, they're a tough cookie.
SPEAKER_00: I can't imagine them ever coming to Christ.
SPEAKER_00: This is the beautiful thing that Jesus says that what's impossible for man is possible with God.
SPEAKER_00: God is able to save you and I, even though our hearts are hard, even though there are things between us and God.
SPEAKER_00: God's able to overcome our objections.
SPEAKER_00: And so we keep praying and we keep sharing the gospel, knowing that God is at work in the world to bring people into his kingdom, to bring them into a personal relationship with himself.
SPEAKER_00: But we're going to continue on this theme because we've been talking about the surrender of stuff, of leaving stuff to become a disciple, to become a follower of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And I want to show you, here's what Peter says.
SPEAKER_00: We're going to look at these four verses 27 through 30.
SPEAKER_00: He says, Then Peter responded to him, see, we have left everything and followed you.
SPEAKER_00: So what will there be for us?
SPEAKER_00: Jesus said to them, Truly I tell you, in the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on the twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
SPEAKER_00: And every one who has left houses, or brothers, or sisters, or father, or mother, or children, or fields, because of my name, will receive a hundred times more, and will inherit eternal life.
SPEAKER_00: But many who are first will be last, and the per first, and the last first.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, as we spend some time looking at this text, we ask that you would be our teacher and that the Holy Spirit would take this text, cause it to intersect with us in our life that we're living right now.
SPEAKER_00: We understand that you taught these things 2,000 years ago, and we're living with this large time gap between when you taught it and our life now, but we we pray you'd apply it in a particular way into our lives.
SPEAKER_00: Give us that tenderness of heart to receive what you would say to us this morning.
SPEAKER_00: And we ask this in Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: And so we start with this statement from Peter.
SPEAKER_00: He says, This we have left everything to follow you, so what will there be for us?
SPEAKER_00: What did Peter leave?
SPEAKER_00: When Peter became a follower of Jesus, what is he talking about when he says that we have left everything?
SPEAKER_00: Let me show you a little bit of Peter's story.
SPEAKER_00: It says in Matthew 4.18, we covered this about a year ago, that he's walking along the Sea of Galilee.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is walking on the Sea of Galilee, and he saw two brothers, Simon, who is also named Peter, and his brother, Andrew, and they're casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus said to Peter and Andrew, follow me, I will make you fish for people.
SPEAKER_00: Immediately they left their nets and followed him.
SPEAKER_00: So when Peter is talking about leaving everything, he is calling to mind his leaving of his profession.
SPEAKER_00: For Peter, he's there fishing, and Jesus says to him, Follow me.
SPEAKER_00: It means stop being a fisherman and become a follower of me.
SPEAKER_00: Now you remember, Jesus has just had this interaction with the rich young ruler who's asking about how to get eternal life.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is talking about entering into the kingdom, and he's talking about having treasures in heaven and following him.
SPEAKER_00: This is all synonyms, right?
SPEAKER_00: He's using language to talk about this new life.
SPEAKER_00: That's what you're invited into this morning.
SPEAKER_00: You're invited to join Jesus as a follower of him, to have treasures in heaven, to inherit the kingdom of heaven and to have eternal life.
SPEAKER_00: All of those things go together for Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And Peter, he left his nets.
SPEAKER_00: Remember the rich young man, Jesus said to him, if you want to be perfect, I want you to go and sell what you have, give it to the poor.
SPEAKER_00: You'll have treasures in heaven, and then I want you to follow me.
SPEAKER_00: You see, Peter was willing to respond to Jesus when he's fishing and he's told to follow him.
SPEAKER_00: He leaves it all to become a follower of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: But look at, he doesn't just leave his profession to follow Jesus, he also leaves his immediate family.
SPEAKER_00: If we go to Mark chapter 1, it says of Jesus' story that he left the synagogue and he went into Simon and Andrew's house.
SPEAKER_00: Remember, Simon's other name is Peter.
SPEAKER_00: So he goes into Simon and Andrew's house with James and John, but look at some of this little passing notes.
SPEAKER_00: Simon's mother-in-law.
SPEAKER_00: How do you get a mother-in-law?
SPEAKER_00: You get married, right?
SPEAKER_00: So here's Peter, also named Simon.
SPEAKER_00: His mother-in-law was lying in bed with a fever, and they told him about her at once.
SPEAKER_00: So he went to her, took her by the hand, raised her up.
SPEAKER_00: The fever left her, and she began to serve them.
SPEAKER_00: So we see that Peter not only was a fisherman when he came to follow Jesus, but he's also married.
SPEAKER_00: Later on, we'll see that he has daughters.
SPEAKER_00: He's got a mother-in-law, so he leaves his family for a time being to become a follower of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: So when Peter says to Jesus in our text, Jesus, what do we get?
SPEAKER_00: We've left everything to follow you.
SPEAKER_00: Like, there's some significant things that he's left.
SPEAKER_00: His immediate family, he's left his job, and with those two things, he's left an identity, he's left a hometown.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, there's some significant leaving that he's done.
SPEAKER_00: But you'll notice that Peter doesn't just say, I've I what I've left, he uses this plural proposition.
SPEAKER_00: He says, What we have left.
SPEAKER_00: They, this group of disciples, in following Jesus, they've left their jobs, their families, their stability.
SPEAKER_00: They've left everything.
SPEAKER_00: Matthew leaves his attacks booth.
SPEAKER_00: There's others that have, there's um uh there's Judas the Zealot, um he's a who's a kind of a religious fanatic, right?
SPEAKER_00: He's left a political movement to overturn the Roman government.
SPEAKER_00: You have all these individuals that have left and made a s a costly decision to follow Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: But then the question comes up: is that what we're all called to do?
SPEAKER_00: This morning, if you're on your spiritual journey and you decide, okay, I I've been listening to Josh preach now for a month or two, and I'm ready to follow Jesus, does that mean for you that you need to go and sell all your stuff, give it to the poor to follow him?
SPEAKER_00: Does it mean that you need to stop being a fisherman?
SPEAKER_00: Does it mean that you need to stop collecting taxes?
SPEAKER_00: No, in fact, I want to show you a passage out of 1 Corinthians 7 because that question was a question that the early church in Corinth dealt with.
SPEAKER_00: What do you do?
SPEAKER_00: Like what changes in your life when you become a follower of Jesus?
SPEAKER_00: And what we see here with this text in Matthew 19 is that Jesus is, he's not calling the rich young man to sell his stuff because that's the only way to become a follower.
SPEAKER_00: He's dealing with hearts.
SPEAKER_00: And what you need to know is as Jesus is inviting you to be a follower of him, he is appealing to you in your heart to be radically committed and to leave it all on the line.
SPEAKER_00: To be 100% ready to follow him, whatever he asks of you.
SPEAKER_00: But it's going to be different from your neighbor.
SPEAKER_00: It's going to be different from your sister.
SPEAKER_00: It's going to be contextualized.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Why, Josh, is it specific to you?
SPEAKER_00: Because the Holy Spirit is leading you in what it looks like for you to follow Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: So the so Mother Teresa, right?
SPEAKER_00: I don't know her story all that well, but I know that the Holy Spirit led her to have this deep sense of compassion for the poor, and God called her to go to India and care for the poor.
SPEAKER_00: Now he doesn't call everybody to that.
SPEAKER_00: But what he does ask of you and I is for a radical obedience that you're totally 100% sold out.
SPEAKER_00: So if you're David as a young shepherd boy, and you're guarding the sheep, and Samuel comes and anoints your head with oil and calls you to be the king of Israel, then you're in.
SPEAKER_00: You're like, God, I'm all in, I'll obey you.
SPEAKER_00: And you see the giant in front of you, and you're like, I'm all in, God, I'm gonna obey you, I'm gonna take this giant on.
SPEAKER_00: If you're Abraham and God says to you, I want you to go to a new land that I'm gonna show you, then you say, God, I'm all in.
SPEAKER_00: I'm ready to leave my family and go to this promised land.
SPEAKER_00: And God says to you, I want you to sacrifice your one and only son.
SPEAKER_00: Then you say, God, I'm all in.
SPEAKER_00: I'm trusting that you're gonna provide a sacrifice in the place of my son.
SPEAKER_00: But I'm going up to that mountain and I'm ready to sacrifice my son to you.
SPEAKER_00: The story of Scripture is men and women who are all in, and God over and over again is testing faith.
SPEAKER_00: He's giving opportunity to participate in his story by saying, Hey, you want to be here, you want to be back in the garden, you want to experience the human flourishing that I've designed you for, you're gonna have to lay it on the line.
SPEAKER_00: You can't hold on.
SPEAKER_00: You don't get to hold on to your life and experience the garden at the same time.
SPEAKER_00: You've got to be willing to let go.
SPEAKER_00: Remember when Tarzan used to swing from the vines?
SPEAKER_00: He couldn't get to the next vine unless he was willing to let go of the last one.
SPEAKER_00: And that's what he asks of you and I.
SPEAKER_00: That we would be willing to obey him by taking steps of faith.
SPEAKER_00: But let's look at this in Corinth because Paul's dealing with this question with the church.
SPEAKER_00: He says, let each one live his life in the situation the Lord assigned when God called him.
SPEAKER_00: This is what I command in all the churches.
SPEAKER_00: Remember, Paul's this missionary, he's establishing these churches, he's helping people find Jesus as the Messiah and follow him.
SPEAKER_00: And he says, This is what I this is part of my training in every church.
SPEAKER_00: Where were you at?
SPEAKER_00: So what does he mean by situation?
SPEAKER_00: Well, let's look at one of them.
SPEAKER_00: He says, was anyone already circumcised when he was called?
SPEAKER_00: In other words, what were you Jewish when you found out about Jesus the Messiah?
SPEAKER_00: Then what that's your situation that you're in.
SPEAKER_00: He should not undo his circumcision.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, don't stop being Jewish when you find out about Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Stay.
SPEAKER_00: That's where God called you.
SPEAKER_00: You were Jewish, you were circumcised.
SPEAKER_00: Then stay right there in your Jewish Jewishness.
SPEAKER_00: I hope you'd laugh at me on that one, yes.
SPEAKER_00: Was anyone called while uncircumcised?
SPEAKER_00: In other words, were you a Gentile when you found out about Jesus?
SPEAKER_00: He should not get circumcised, right?
SPEAKER_00: Don't go and get circumcised now that you found Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: No, just stay right where you're at.
SPEAKER_00: He goes on in the section.
SPEAKER_00: If you want to read more of that material, just go to 1 Corinthians 7.
SPEAKER_00: What the reason I want to put you there in that place, because the other group, one of the groups he talks about, is slaves.
SPEAKER_00: Were you a slave when you were called?
SPEAKER_00: Don't try to undo your slavery, he says.
SPEAKER_00: And he does give a caveat there.
SPEAKER_00: He says, though, but if you can obtain your freedom, by all means take it.
SPEAKER_00: But he says, don't try to throw off culture.
SPEAKER_00: Just follow Jesus right where you're at.
SPEAKER_00: The reason I put this in front of you is because we're engaging with people who are either called to make radical sacrifices to follow Jesus and they reject it.
SPEAKER_00: That's the rich young ruler.
SPEAKER_00: Or we engage with people like Peter who have made great sacrifices to follow Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And I want you to see that what it is about in following Jesus is how we obey from that position.
SPEAKER_00: Not just a radical, I'm gonna throw off everything that's normal.
SPEAKER_00: And sometimes we see that.
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes people are like, wow, Jesus is blowing my mind.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna go to like Ethiopia and I'm gonna serve the poor, which is awesome.
SPEAKER_00: If the Holy Spirit's leading view.
SPEAKER_00: But what Paul taught in each one of these churches, he's just like, stay right where you're at.
SPEAKER_00: Obey the commands, he says, and live as a slave of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Fully sold out for Jesus, right in that setting.
SPEAKER_00: Remember there was that um demon-possessed guy at the tombs?
SPEAKER_00: And uh Jesus shows up in Gednesareth, he casts out the demons into the pigs, the pigs run off down into the hill, and the pigs drown.
SPEAKER_00: You remember that story?
SPEAKER_00: And the guy goes back and he tells the town, here's what happened, and a bunch of people in, you know, come back to Jesus and they're like, please, Jesus, leave us.
SPEAKER_00: And this demon freed, the guy who had been been freed from these demons, he begs Jesus, Can I go with you?
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus says to him, No, you need to stay here and you need to testify about what has happened to you.
SPEAKER_00: Fascinating, right?
SPEAKER_00: So Jesus is not, you know, he Jesus could have like gotten another recruit.
SPEAKER_00: He could have had a bigger crowd, he could have had like a little roving circus.
SPEAKER_00: Here's the guy who was saved from a demon, you know, here's the guy that got his ear grew back, here's the guy that now is walking and was like um uh paraplegic, you know.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, he could have had like this kind of whole show and gig that he did, but he says to the guy, no, stay there.
SPEAKER_00: You have an important testimony amongst your people.
SPEAKER_00: Those are sometimes the hardest people to stay with, by the way.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes the easiest thing to do is to like follow Jesus and just drop everybody you knew.
SPEAKER_00: It's like I was in Dundalk, but I'm free from Dundalk, I'm out of here, right?
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna go hang out with those other Christians.
SPEAKER_00: No, and Jesus is like, yo, stay right there.
SPEAKER_00: Stay amongst your people, stay there in Baltimore, stay in that job, whatever it is, but it comes down to the Spirit of God guiding you and I.
SPEAKER_00: So Peter left his nets, Matthew left a tax booth, but Paul, the apostle Paul, he continued to um he says he was he was a tent maker.
SPEAKER_00: He continued his job mending tents.
SPEAKER_00: That was his like side job, side hustle that he had.
SPEAKER_00: Even though he became this great missionary, he supported himself by mending tents.
SPEAKER_00: There was another woman that came to Jesus, she was named Lydia, she was a seller of purple cloth.
SPEAKER_00: And her coming to Jesus didn't mean that she got rid of her business that she started.
SPEAKER_00: She continued in her incredible, like she was wealthy as this uh trader in purple cloth, which was like a really special cloth in her time.
SPEAKER_00: There's a Roman jailer who we find out about um who guarded um Peter, and and we also have some with Paul.
SPEAKER_00: And they come to Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: They're the the people that they're the men that they're guarding in prison are miraculously released, and yet that Roman jailer doesn't quit his job to follow Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: He started treating the prisoners differently.
SPEAKER_00: The radical call is to leave behind control identity.
SPEAKER_00: Let me see if I have this.
SPEAKER_00: I don't.
SPEAKER_00: The radical call is to leave behind control, identity, and allegiance, not necessarily your physical station, where you're at.
SPEAKER_00: We desperately, one of the problems, so I went to a Bible college when I was 18, 19 years old.
SPEAKER_00: One of the problems with that Bible college was the teachers at that Bible college were pastors who had experienced a call from God to be become a pastor and go into ministry.
SPEAKER_00: But the way that they taught their class was as if, you know, the 250 students in a Genesis class, as if they all were going to become full-time pastors in their future.
SPEAKER_00: And really, less than 10% of those students went into full-time ministry.
SPEAKER_00: Most of them went into the workplace or they became moms, or um, and they lived like what we call regular lives.
SPEAKER_00: And and it's the training was not really training people to stay in this their station of life and to live out the gospel in their context.
SPEAKER_00: And so I think that it's important to understand that as Jesus is saying, Hey, if you want to follow me, you want to be a disciple, you need to be ready to leave it all.
SPEAKER_00: But you may be leaving it all, but staying right in the exact same place where you're at.
SPEAKER_00: Because it's about our hearts.
SPEAKER_00: When Peter said we've left everything, he meant that his life no longer belonged to himself.
SPEAKER_00: That's true of every disciple, whether you're a fisherman or a federal worker.
SPEAKER_00: Paul says you don't have to run from your life to follow Jesus, but you do have to surrender ownership of it.
SPEAKER_00: That's the true cost of discipleship.
SPEAKER_00: Nothing is held back.
SPEAKER_00: Everything is reoriented towards Him.
SPEAKER_00: Whether you stay or go, you're no longer the Lord of your own life.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is the Lord of your life.
SPEAKER_00: For some of you, you're in the process of recovery.
SPEAKER_00: You're you've struggled with addictions in your life, and you're giving a season to just being free from addiction, which is awesome.
SPEAKER_00: And and what you need to know is that Jesus is asking for that piece of Your life.
SPEAKER_00: That's what needs to be laid down as a disciple is your use of substances for whatever reason.
SPEAKER_00: And a part of your recovery process, you may be going through therapy, you may be engaged in just searching out your own inner pain and why you do this.
SPEAKER_00: But no matter what, here's what you need to know: is that Jesus wants to be the Lord of your life.
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't want a substance to be the Lord of your life.
SPEAKER_00: And one of the reasons why you're going to into recovery and you're in recovery in the recovery process is because you don't want that substance to be the Lord of your life.
SPEAKER_00: And you need to let the Holy Spirit continue to work in you to set you free from the things that you've been enslaved to.
SPEAKER_00: And so the actual question, Peter says to Jesus, We've left everything to follow you.
SPEAKER_00: And he asks this question, so what will there be for us?
SPEAKER_00: Remember, he said, we left it all.
SPEAKER_00: But the question is, is what do we get out of it?
SPEAKER_00: It's refreshingly honest.
SPEAKER_00: It's one we will ask even if we don't say it out loud.
SPEAKER_00: What is in it for me, Jesus?
SPEAKER_00: Most of us don't leave careers, comfort, or habits without asking if it's worth it.
SPEAKER_00: The amazing thing is, Jesus doesn't rebuke this question.
SPEAKER_00: Instead, he dignifies it.
SPEAKER_00: He answers with a vision of reward that goes beyond money or comfort.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is not opposed to Peter asking this question.
SPEAKER_00: Do you notice that?
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is not opposed to you saying, What's in it for me?
SPEAKER_00: He answers with a vision that aligns with his vision for their life.
SPEAKER_00: The reward for following Jesus isn't just heaven, it's Jesus Himself, and he gives far more than we could ever ask.
SPEAKER_00: So we get to verse 28, where he says to them, I tell you, in the renewal of all things.
SPEAKER_00: Now, he's going to talk about in the renewal of all things how he himself is associated with this, but I've got to point out to you something really cool, just right here in this section.
SPEAKER_00: When Jesus says, in the renewal of all things, he uses a Greek word that he uses nowhere else.
SPEAKER_00: It's palingenesia.
SPEAKER_00: Palingenesia.
SPEAKER_00: It's literally the word again, palen.
SPEAKER_00: And then what does Genesia sound like?
SPEAKER_00: Genesis.
SPEAKER_00: It's in the again Genesis.
SPEAKER_00: That's literally, if you were to break apart the word palingenesia, it's it's two words, again and Genesis.
SPEAKER_00: In the and so it's translated here, renewal, it's also translated regeneration.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus says that there is a renewal time coming or a regeneration coming.
SPEAKER_00: What does that mean?
SPEAKER_00: This is really important.
SPEAKER_00: And as you understand Jesus, because we're oftentimes looking backwards at what Jesus did on the cross and the resurrection.
SPEAKER_00: And a significant work was accomplished there, but the Bible says that the story is not over, and there is still a future work, and it is this idea of renewal and regeneration.
SPEAKER_00: You see, we're living in a tension as we believe the gospel, the good news, we're living between the redemptive work of Christ and the renewing work of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, we're seeing him making all things new.
SPEAKER_00: He's changing us, he's making us new, but that is just a down payment, a little drop of making all things new.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus is speaking when he talks about the regeneration or renewal here in this text.
SPEAKER_00: This is called by Paul in Romans 8.23.
SPEAKER_00: It is called a redemption of our bodies.
SPEAKER_00: He calls it the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay.
SPEAKER_00: Revelation 21 talks about a new heaven and a new earth that the old will pass away.
SPEAKER_00: So in Matthew 19, Jesus is talking about the moment when heaven and earth are renewed and restored, made what they were meant to be, what they were meant to be.
SPEAKER_00: So Jesus references this time.
SPEAKER_00: He says here that I tell you in the renewal of all things, okay, what's going to happen in the renewal of all things?
SPEAKER_00: Well, we have this verse here.
SPEAKER_00: When the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne.
SPEAKER_00: Do you see that?
SPEAKER_00: It's not just that the heaven and earth are going to be made new, but that in that new heavens and new earth, Jesus sits on a throne.
SPEAKER_00: The authority in that space is Jesus on the throne.
SPEAKER_00: Now, this seems like Christian language.
SPEAKER_00: If you've been around the church for years, it's just you could just blow right through this.
SPEAKER_00: But here's Jesus talking about being the king.
SPEAKER_00: He's talked all about the kingdom.
SPEAKER_00: He said the kingdom is at hand.
SPEAKER_00: Here's how you inherit the kingdom of heaven.
SPEAKER_00: And he's talking about a future day when he is the king.
SPEAKER_00: But what happens when this is the case?
SPEAKER_00: We see this new world order.
SPEAKER_00: He's answering Peter's question.
SPEAKER_00: He says, You who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
SPEAKER_00: So here's the twelve apostles told that at this future date, when all things are made new, and Jesus is on the throne, that they are going to sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
SPEAKER_00: Fascinating.
SPEAKER_00: This is why when Judas betrays Jesus and then commits suicide, the early church goes, We need a twelfth guy.
SPEAKER_00: Because we're all going to sit on a throne, and Judas was Judas is anathema.
SPEAKER_00: He's not one of the guys that's going to sit on a throne.
SPEAKER_00: We need somebody else to sit on the throne.
SPEAKER_00: So in Acts chapter 1, you have the appointment of Matthias to be one of the 12.
SPEAKER_00: And as you go further in the New Testament, there's a reference back to the 12 that adds Matthias in.
SPEAKER_00: Some people say Paul's the 12th.
SPEAKER_00: I don't think he is.
SPEAKER_00: I think Paul even talks about the 12 in 1 Corinthians 15 being a witness to the resurrection.
SPEAKER_00: I think Matthias is one of the 12.
SPEAKER_00: And so Jesus answers Peter's question by saying, This is what you have to look forward to, Peter.
SPEAKER_00: You're going to reign with me.
SPEAKER_00: Isn't it interesting that we have the Palingenesia, the renewal of all things, Genesis again, and what do we have being spoken about?
SPEAKER_00: Reigning and ruling.
SPEAKER_00: What do we have in Genesis chapter 1?
SPEAKER_00: We have God making humans and telling them, I want you to reign and rule in this garden, in this space.
SPEAKER_00: God's work and use of humans doesn't change.
SPEAKER_00: It doesn't change.
SPEAKER_00: Your call, the reason why you're invited into Jesus, the Jesus story, to follow him is so that you can bear out the image of God ruling and reigning in the midst of the garden he's given to you.
SPEAKER_00: Your call, now empowered by the Spirit, to be one who is reigning and ruling in your sphere.
SPEAKER_00: When Roman uh centurions, army officers for the Roman army were taught to fight, they were given an imaginary six-foot box.
SPEAKER_00: Imagine like this rug I'm standing on was the box I was trained.
SPEAKER_00: And what they were told was when something comes into that box, that's for you to take care of.
SPEAKER_00: You don't need to worry about somebody else's box, that's your box.
SPEAKER_00: And that is a biblical principle throughout scripture.
SPEAKER_00: God continues to give us our box, but he doesn't say you need to fight in that box necessarily.
SPEAKER_00: He says you need to rule.
SPEAKER_00: Rule with me.
SPEAKER_00: This is what we'll see when we talk about stewardship.
SPEAKER_00: He says, Here, I'm going to give you this money, I want you to steward over it.
SPEAKER_00: And he gives this parable about what that looks like and the reward for stewarding well.
SPEAKER_00: God continues to take humans and put them into gardens and say, I want you to be fruitful, I want you to multiply, I want you to subdue and rule.
SPEAKER_00: And so Jesus here is talking to these disciples, saying, Yo, we're not gonna be up playing harps sitting on clouds at some renewed date.
SPEAKER_00: No, there's gonna be a new heavens and new earth.
SPEAKER_00: You're gonna be sitting on thrones, and you're gonna be reigning and ruling, having a place of leadership amongst the 12 tribes.
SPEAKER_00: That's crazy, right?
SPEAKER_00: That's crazy.
SPEAKER_00: Who knows what that's all gonna look like?
SPEAKER_00: I don't know how that all comes together, but that's an amazing thing that Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: But he doesn't just stop there.
SPEAKER_00: He, well, we don't have time to look at this.
SPEAKER_00: Is all the stuff about the new heavens and new earth.
SPEAKER_00: We'll move past that because I'm out of time.
SPEAKER_00: Let's go a little bit further into verse uh 29.
SPEAKER_00: And everyone, so so he's talked about the future.
SPEAKER_00: Now he's gonna talk more about the present.
SPEAKER_00: He says, Everyone who's left houses or brothers or sisters or fathers or mothers or children or fields, because of my name will receive a hundred times more and will inherit eternal life.
SPEAKER_00: So there's it, you're gonna give it away, you've left it, you're gonna get it back.
SPEAKER_00: But even more, doesn't that remind you of Job?
SPEAKER_00: Where Job goes through this horrible suffering and loses a bunch, but then at the end of his life he gains back all that much more?
SPEAKER_00: Somehow there's this exchanged life that God engages us in, where, and this would have been the promise that he would have given to the rich young man.
SPEAKER_00: But the rich young man left.
SPEAKER_00: Again, it's not to get even more, but the question for you this morning, the question for me is are you willing to surrender to Jesus?
SPEAKER_00: Are you willing to give up the thing that you desperately want so that he can give something back to you?
SPEAKER_00: It's an amazing picture here that he gives.
SPEAKER_00: Let's look.
SPEAKER_00: They are promised thrones, and then they are promised many times as much compared to what was left behind.
SPEAKER_00: Here's the same thing.
SPEAKER_00: Remember, I was talking to the class this morning, we were talking about how Mark tells the same story as Matthew.
SPEAKER_00: Here's the same story in Mark, but I just want you to notice truly I tell you, there's not no one who's left house or brother or sister or mother or father, or children or fields for my sake, for the sake of the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: But look at this next part.
SPEAKER_00: Who will not receive a hundred times more?
SPEAKER_00: So it's got a little bit more granular detail.
SPEAKER_00: He says, You're gonna receive a hundred times more.
SPEAKER_00: Now at this time, houses, brothers and sisters, mothers and children and fields, but it's with persecutions.
SPEAKER_00: So Jesus is not preaching like, hey, you're gonna get rich following me.
SPEAKER_00: There is this bloody mess of a life that follows in following Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: You're giving up everything, he's giving you back stuff, you're experiencing persecution.
SPEAKER_00: There's a whole lot that is going on.
SPEAKER_00: And it's eternal life in the age to come.
SPEAKER_00: So I just put that in front of you for the Bible class this morning because we were talking about how Mark tells the same thing as Matthew, but it but it's told with some new pieces, right?
SPEAKER_00: Let's go to verse 30.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 30 says, But many who are first will be last, and the last will be first.
SPEAKER_00: Now it's really important that you remember this because when we come back next week, we're starting chapter 20 in Matthew.
SPEAKER_00: Can you believe we've already gotten to chapter 20?
SPEAKER_00: I know you're like, oh my gosh, I can't believe it took us this long to get to 20.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, next week we're starting 20, and 20 is gonna be a parable that illustrates this point.
SPEAKER_00: It's important to see that there's a continuation of thought between what Jesus is teaching here and the parable that he's gonna teach and we're gonna look at next week.
SPEAKER_00: It's this idea of inheriting the kingdom.
SPEAKER_00: Like, aren't you curious?
SPEAKER_00: Okay, we're gonna follow Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: What do we get?
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is gonna continue to answer this question.
SPEAKER_00: So here's your homework for this week.
SPEAKER_00: What do you get from following Jesus?
SPEAKER_00: Why are you following Jesus?
SPEAKER_00: It's it's the right thing to do, but what do you what is in it for you?
SPEAKER_00: Maybe the better question to ask first is are you willing to surrender everything to him?
SPEAKER_00: And then what do you think?
SPEAKER_00: What is he gonna do?
SPEAKER_00: What's he gonna give back?
SPEAKER_00: Wrestle with that this week.
SPEAKER_00: Think about it.
SPEAKER_00: I know what you're saying, I know what you're saying, but I think Jesus is not afraid to both talk about legacy, reward, but looking for the right reward.
SPEAKER_00: So he he says to the disciples in the Sermon on the Mount, stop seeking the things that decay, that decay with rust, or that the thief can come in and steal, but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven.
unknown: Smile from somebody.
SPEAKER_00: A smile from somebody, is that your treasure in heaven?
unknown: Like positivity.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, maybe, maybe.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, we wrestled through as we went through the kingdom, like the treasures in heaven.
SPEAKER_00: We talked about how there that is a not a future thing to inherit, but a present living reality, because heaven is something that overlaps with earth.
SPEAKER_00: But it's still this intangible.
SPEAKER_00: Like, what is that?
SPEAKER_00: What are the treasures in heaven that we have now as we seek the good, right?
SPEAKER_00: And and so you know, you can go back and listen to that.
SPEAKER_00: But I don't think that God appears afraid to put the carrot on the stick and to um offer us motivation.
SPEAKER_00: That does not seem to be um something that God's afraid of.
SPEAKER_00: I think what he's trying to say is like it look at what's going on in your heart.
SPEAKER_00: Be truthful with yourself, evaluate the motivations of your heart, but be motivated by what is good and what I have, right?
SPEAKER_00: So we want to be motivated for his story to be accomplished, not ours, right?
SPEAKER_00: But he has no problem with us benefiting from that.
SPEAKER_00: He invites us to be beneficiaries.
SPEAKER_00: When he created Adam and Eve, it wasn't like I'm creating you guys to suffer at my expense.
SPEAKER_00: It was a good thing in the garden.
SPEAKER_00: It was beautiful.
SPEAKER_00: And so the goodness of God is that as you make these sacrifices, as it is costly to follow Jesus, if you can trust him that he is good, you will receive, you will walk it out, you'll live by it.
SPEAKER_00: So the problem is, is life just is tough.
SPEAKER_00: What we struggle with is not motivation so much as like giving up and following him in obedience.
SPEAKER_00: Because we like to be like Adam and Eve, like, I'm gonna take the fruit, I know what's best.
SPEAKER_00: It's not that we lack motivation.
SPEAKER_00: So, yeah, please don't think that God is afraid to motivate you.
SPEAKER_00: He's not calling you to a dour.
SPEAKER_00: Remember uh Dennis the Menace, how he had this like miserable neighbor called Mr.
SPEAKER_00: Wilson?
SPEAKER_00: So there's some forms of Christianity that kind of take on that form where you think, like, oh, to be a good Christian, I gotta be just dour and down.
SPEAKER_00: No.
SPEAKER_00: No, there's there is this incredible fruit of the spirit.
SPEAKER_00: What are the fruit of the spirit?
SPEAKER_00: Love.
SPEAKER_00: Who doesn't want love, right?
SPEAKER_00: Who doesn't want joy?
SPEAKER_00: Who doesn't want peace?
unknown: Right?
SPEAKER_00: Who doesn't want wealth, like like riches in heaven, whatever that is, if we can quantify it.
SPEAKER_00: No, God, God definitely appeals, carrot on the stake, whatever analogy you want to use, he appeals to us to be motivated and obedient.
SPEAKER_00: Does that answer the question?
SPEAKER_00: It is interesting because there is that part of me that kind of hesitates like that as well.
SPEAKER_00: All right.
SPEAKER_00: We're running out of time.
SPEAKER_00: Mary, yeah, one more question.
SPEAKER_00: Mary.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for reminding me.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, we're gonna pray for their family.
SPEAKER_00: And you're gonna have to remind me of their name as well.
SPEAKER_00: It's like Taniqua or something like that.
SPEAKER_00: Chewanda.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so Chekwanda uh committed suicide yesterday, so we're gonna pray for her family.
SPEAKER_00: Um so Satan is definitely involved in that.
SPEAKER_00: And then we have our own volition, like we have our own autonomy, right?
SPEAKER_00: We make decisions on our own.
SPEAKER_00: So Satan is happy to cooperate with despair to give us a sense of despair, of hopelessness, and um and she gave in to that despair.
SPEAKER_00: And it's horrible.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not a I'm not um a Catholic.
SPEAKER_00: So Catholics believe that that's the unforgivable sin.
SPEAKER_00: If Chekwanda had a relationship with Jesus, I think that she's in heaven, but it comes down to like her personal relationship with Christ.
SPEAKER_00: And so we just need to what we need to pray is for her family and her friends that they would recognize that Satan wants to steal, kill, and destroy.
SPEAKER_00: That God wants that that Satan wants to seed our hearts with despair, take away hope.
SPEAKER_00: And instead, God wants to give us a future and a hope.
SPEAKER_00: He wants to work in our life.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, we um just pray for Chekwanda's family.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, we mourn for um over the despair that she felt and that she gave into that despair.
SPEAKER_00: And God, we pray that you would take away just the spirit of despair.
SPEAKER_00: I know that we've had some in our church that have struggled with suicidal ideation and just that, those strange ideas that float through our heads just to end it.
SPEAKER_00: And Lord, you have redeemed us and saved us and given us hope.
SPEAKER_00: And we pray, Lord, that you would um just continue to affirm that, that that would be a reality in our felt um experience, in our emotions, not just our heads, and that you would just shut down Satan's lies about in despair.
SPEAKER_00: We pray for Chekwan's family, give her the give them encouragement and hope, give them peace as they mourn the loss of their daughter and their friend.
SPEAKER_00: Um Lord, would you please uh just in your great mercy be in the midst of that tragedy to draw people to yourself and to change to change what's going on or to destroy all of Satan's works like that we pray in Jesus' name, Amen.