And so if you were here last week, Pastor Matt walked us through the beginning of a new series, like Kingdom of God series, which is a very timely one for the world we live in.
He walked us through Matthew 6, exploring the kingdom of God and its many fruits for our lives, as citizens of heaven, as citizens of this kingdom, that as Christians, our deepest identity as citizens of the kingdom of God, that we're offered a life of peace.
Matt talked about in the midst of life's ever-increasing anxiety and uncertainty.
For if God feeds the birds and clothes the lilies, how much more will he provide according to our deepest need?
And this week we're gonna say, in the Gospel of Matthew, as we saw earlier, looking at the parable of the weeds in Matthew 13.
So I'm gonna read that again for us.
The words of Jesus say, The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field.
But while while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheats and went away.
So when the plants came up and bore again, then the weeds appeared also, and the servants of the master of the house came to him, saying, Master, did you not sow good seed in your field?
How then does it have weeds?
He said to them, An enemy has done this, so the servant said to them, Do you not want us to go and gather them?
But he said, No, lest in gathering the weeds you root up the wheats along with them.
Let both grow together until the harvest, and at a harvest time I will tell the reapers, gather the weeds first, bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.
And that is our first point this morning that the citizenship that we have, citizenship of the kingdom of God produces gospel humility.
So my wife Ellie and I got a dog about two months ago.
Can't help but show you a picture of him.
His name's Rambo.
Um don't worry, we're doing alright.
We're hanging in there, um, having a puppy.
We've been trying to trying to train him, and he's picked up fairly fast on most things.
Other things are still quite a struggle.
Um but one thing he likes to do when we take him on a walk is he likes to have the end of his leash in his mouth.
So he walks around like this, um, head tall, feeling nice and proud.
Um he wants to have just that ounce of control, even if it's no real control at all.
Um even though walking with his leash in his mouth isn't actually doing anything.
He's not actually guiding us, but he feels like it.
Uh he feels like he's deciding where we're going on this walk.
When he knows where he is on the street, when he knows home is near, he likes to guide us there.
But in reality, it's just an illusion of control, right?
I could easily control this dog if I wanted to.
And while I continually pull out the leash from his mouth frustratingly over and over again, I can't help but think that is often how we are too.
We too want to feel like we have just an ounce of control when it comes to our lives, our families, even the world at large.
I'm reminded of R.
C.
Sprohl's quote saying, most Christians salute the sovereignty of God, but believe in the sovereignty of man.
Regardless of what we know in our minds, what we know the Bible teaches, it's our heart's natural bent, our instinct to grasp for any control that we feel like we can have.
But this perceived control is just that.
It's perceived, it's an illusion.
We see from the very beginning of mankind and the Garden of Eden, it is very clear that we are dependent creatures.
God, our Father, is sufficient and whole in and of himself.
He created everything from nothing and with nothing but his hand and his word, and he has revealed his deepest identity to us, saying, I am who I am, as he spoke to Moses in the burning bush.
God always exists.
He depends on nothing outside of himself to be who he is or do what he does.
Everything else depends on him.
Only God depends on nothing but himself for existence.
But as created beings, we can't say the same.
We can't claim the same rights.
Our identity, our deepest identity, is attached to him as our creator, as our ruler, as a sovereign God over the whole universe.
And this doctrine is historically called the creator-creature distinction.
And this may feel very obvious to some of you, or it may seem like heady, lofty nonsense to some, but this idea, this creator-creature distinction, God being set apart from us, is the nucleus of gospel humility.
Our second point this morning is that the gospel humility rests and leans on the glory of Jesus.
Gospel humility happens in us when we turn our eyes off of ourselves and our perceived control and we turn them towards the glory and splendor of Jesus.
See, I particularly love the way Jesus tells this parable in Matthew 13.
It's pretty brilliant.
Look at what he does.
He knows when we hear this parable, hear him teaching, that we will naturally hear his words and insert ourselves into this scenario as the man in verse 24.
And I think Jesus anticipated that we would go there.
He knows that we love to be the center of the story.
He knows that we like to be the main character, but when he's done teaching, Jesus leaves this crowd and goes back with his disciples and has a debrief with them of all the teaching he just did.
And they ask him to elaborate on this parable.
What does this mean?
And when doing so, as we see starting in verse 37, Jesus flips our natural understanding of this parable on its head.
He reads, 37, The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man.
The field is the world, and the good seed is the sons of the kingdom, the weeds are the sons of the evil one, and the enemy who sowed them is the devil.
The harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are the angels.
See, what Jesus is doing here is he's revealing this reality to us that he, the Son of Man, is the one who sows the good seed.
It's not us.
He's the one who nourishes, who controls, who guides.
And in doing this, he's exposing that assumption we have that we are the ones in control.
When we see he reveals himself as the Son of Man in verse 37, and more than Son of God, Messiah, Christ, Lord, Son of Man is Jesus' favorite title for himself, using it the most of any around 80 times in all of the Gospels.
And while this title seems to highlight Jesus' humanity, being a son born from man and woman, the title Son of Man really and primarily emphasizes his deity.
Let's look at Daniel 7, verses 13 and 14.
The prophet says, I saw in the night visions, and behold, at the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man.
And he came to the ancient of days, and he was presented before him, and to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom that all people, nations, and languages should serve him.
His dominion is an everlasting dominion which shall not pass away.
And his kingdom is one that shall not be destroyed.
By referring to himself, simply referring to himself as the Son of Man, here in this parable, Jesus is professing his authority and absolute power over all creation, saying, I am the one with the everlasting dominion.
It is me.
See, you and I we're not the ones who sow the seeds in the kingdom of God.
It's the Son of Man, Christ Jesus, who rules in a heavenly kingdom with an everlasting and all-powerful dominion.
And at the core of this parable, Jesus is showing us what true humility is, what gospel humility is.
He's saying that the only way to be truly humble, to live a life of humility, is to keep God as the reference point for everything.
Your desires, your affections, your time, your work, your relationships, your family, your marriage, your faith.
See, it's an inherently proud and unhumble to assume that we can be like God because at that point we forget that we are creatures created by Him.
So therefore, humility, it should be our default posture as we go through life as citizens of the kingdom of God, living in the reality that we are the Father's beloved children, abiding and doing his work.
See, gospel humility is not about bringing ourselves low as much as it is about exalting the name of Jesus high above everything else.
It rests on his glory.
C.S.
Lewis illustrates it this way.
Says, do not imagine that if you meet a really humble man, he will be what most people call humble nowadays.
He will not be a sort of greasy, smarmy person who is always telling you that, of course, he's a nobody.
Probably all you would think about him is that he seemed a cheerful, intelligent chap who took a real interest in what you said to him.
If you do dislike him, it'll be because you feel a little envious of anyone who seems to enjoy life so easily.
He will not be thinking about humility, he will not be thinking about himself at all.
Or in other words, humility is not thinking less of yourself, but it is thinking of yourself less.
And I would add, thinking of yourself less and Christ Jesus more.
But this call to humility, it's not one of condemnation, but it is a message of grace from Jesus.
And our third point this morning is that while pride is an exhausting illusion, humility is a relieving reality.
Last week, Matt referred to the new movie Inside Out 2.
In this movie, he talked about we get to see the inner workings of this 13-year-old Riley's head as she encounters anxiety for the first time.
If you watch the stream online, you might remember this beautiful image when Matt started talking about anxiety.
And if the Inside Out movies they show us anything, they illustrate the turmoil that goes on in our hearts and our minds when left to ourselves.
When we're left to figure things out, figuring things out on our own, we're left exhausted, even hopeless at times.
As Dane Ortland says, oh, how exhausting is the misery of self.
But Jesus' words here in Matthew 13 display God's absolute sovereignty and our utter dependence, leaving us to collapse into his merciful arms and his good glory.
But this does not come at our expense, but with a promise of deeper peace and deeper relief than we could ever muster up and create ourselves by controlling in our own hands.
Not many sports have as undisputed a greatest of all time as football has with Tom Brady, like him or not.
I tried to avoid bringing him up, but I couldn't.
So like him or not, I mean he's the best quarterback of all time.
Um his story is quite an inspiring one.
Uh 199th pick in the NFL draft.
Overlooked, discounted when Drew Bloodsoe got hurt.
He went down with an injury, uh, Brady got his chance, and then the rest is history, right?
After jumping to an early success in his career, three Super Bowl rings in his first five years, it seemed like he made it.
He arrived.
Like, what more could you do?
But in the interview, after his third championship in 2005, he doesn't carry the posture that you'd expect.
I want to show you.
Why do I have three Super Bowl rings?
And still think there's something greater out there for me.
I mean, maybe a lot of people would say, hey man, this is what it is.
I reached my goal, my dream, my life is me, I thank God.
It's gotta be more than that.
I mean, this isn't this can't be what it's all cracked up to be.
I mean, I've done it.
I'm 27.
And what else is there for me?
What's the answer?
I wish I knew.
So what else is there?
Well, there for him it'd be three more Super Bowls, um, a lot of MVPs, um, a unanimous crowning of being the best, but I would venture to guess that his heart hasn't changed.
This is a man who, like us, a lot of ways, sought but also attained total control of his life, so it seemed.
Sacrificing unknown amounts of time and energy to achieve what he thought he needed.
And he played a position too that controlled the field.
He controlled the offense, called his own plays.
He was in total control of his game and seemingly his life, yet he's left convinced there has got to be more than this.
In Matthew 13, Jesus is not condemning success and achievements, but he is exposing this unsatisfying illusion of control that we believe that we have.
Even if we get to a place where we're operating at the highest level and controlling every factor in our lives to be secure, we'll still be left unsatisfied.
The kingdom of God offers different things for us.
The most unhumble thing that we can do is try to earn and work for things that God has already made us and graciously given us in Christ.
That's the beautiful reality of the kingdom of God and our dependence on Him, is that it's not something to lament.
It's not a truth that's a hard pill to swallow, but it's a reality that frees us from the bondage of pride and the exhaustion of living outside of the kingdom of God.
See, pride and insecurity, they work together.
Pride and shame are really good friends.
Where pride lives, grace and mercy don't.
Imagine living in a way in which the weight and consequences of this world laid upon your own shoulders.
Where it was up to you to sort out the frustrating complexities in your heart and your minds, where it was up to you to determine your own assurances in this life and after, where it was up to you to make every wrong a right to bring justice to all the injustice in the world, that is not a freeing reality.
I got to see the 1989 film Do the Right Thing this weekend in Atlanta.
And if you've ever seen this wonderful and very powerful movie, you know that it pretty much ends with a question that asks, what should we do about the brokenness of the world?
What can we do?
It leaves us unresolved.
And man, what an exhausting and scary question to be left to figure out ourselves.
But the kingdom of heaven revealed to us in the parable of the weeds or the words of Jesus presents a reality that we don't have to figure it out ourselves, because we can't.
That the heartbeat of gospel humility is recognizing that reality and worshiping God because of it.
As the great Charles Spurgeon said, when you go through a trial, the sovereignty of God is the pillow upon which to lay your head.
The natural outworking of this humility is grace and peace and rest.
It's a holy patience for him to complete the work that he promised to finish in you and in this world.
So rest assured that the Son of Man rules with full dominion from heaven.
Christ Jesus, the ancient of days, rules with authority as God himself.
But the life and ministry of Jesus was not one of brute force, but one of humble service, humble sacrifice.
I'm going to read some from the words of Paul here.
It's a bit of a read, but hang with me.
Paul says in Philippians 2, so if there is any encouragement in Christ, do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.
Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also the interest of others.
Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men, and being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
Therefore, God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth, and under the earth in every tongue confess that Christ Jesus is Lord to the glory of God the Father.
Do all things without grumbling or disputing, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish, in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine past lights in the world.
How real is that reality for us today! So, for our last quick point, we see that Christ Jesus perfectly embodies gospel humility by living in patient trust of the kingdom of God.
He perfectly exemplifies, he's the perfect example of gospel humility for us while also being the very one who will return to avenge his kingdom from evil.
He follows up this parable of the weeds with two other very quick parables.
He says, The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field, it is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown, it is larger than all the garden plants, it becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.
He told another parable, the kingdom of heaven is like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour till it was all leavened.
Patient trust.
Trust that the kingdom of God will not return in one big bang, but through a process like the slow growth of a plant from a mustard seed, or the steady leavening of a loaf of bread.
He finishes all these teachings, especially with the weeds, saying, Gather my weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned.
But gather the wheat in my barn.
And Christ alone, by his mercy, by his death, by his humility, we are citizens of this kingdom.
And as citizens of the kingdom of God, we are freed now to live in this gospel of humility.
He is the sower of seeds, the great and perfect gardener, the good shepherd.
He will not forsake you.
But he will return and right every wrong.
He will comfort all pain.
He will wipe away every tear from your eye.
And on that day of great judgments and victory over sin and death and pain, we, the citizens of the kingdom of God, will humbly and joyfully be gathered into the barn of heaven.
So, church, go today and have full confidence, a humble confidence in God's absolute reign over this world, and find full assurance in your security as members of this kingdom in Christ Jesus.
Let's pray together.
Father, we thank you for your word.
We thank you that it's true.
That we don't have to rest in our own power, but we can rest in yours.
Lord, I pray that you humble our hearts before you, not in condemnation, but in grace.
And that through your death and resurrection, Jesus, we know that we are secured in your kingdom.
Thank you that this is a reality for us, a promise, but also a reality.
Lord, you are good.
We thank you, we love you, and we worship you always.
In your name we pray.
Amen.