We Are 20

Rescue Society, Not Yacht Club: Sustaining Your Yes

Scripture References: Matthew 20:1-28

Sermon Intro: Welcome! Today, reflecting on our church's journey and recent powerful baptisms, we dive into the heart of our mission – not just beholding Jesus, but the "so that" part: seeing the lost found, prodigals return, disciples made, and churches planted. As we look to the future, the crucial question isn't just what we'll do, but how we'll sustain it. How do we avoid "mission creep"? How do we ensure we remain a dynamic "rescue society" and don't slowly drift into becoming a comfortable "yacht club," forgetting why we started? How do we sustain a life of sacrifice and service for decades to come?

Key Points:

1. Beware the Yacht Club - What Do You Deserve? (Matt 20:1-16):
   • The Parable of the Vineyard Workers challenges our sense of fairness. Service can breed entitlement ("I worked longer, I deserve more").
   • We must fight this by remembering GRACE. As Christians, we gave up demanding "fair" – we don't want what we truly deserve!
   • Sustaining service means constantly battling entitlement and remembering God's generosity, even when it doesn't seem "fair" by worldly standards. We never deserve more than the privilege of serving God and others.
2. Fuel for the Long Haul - How Do You See God? (Matt 20:17-19):
   • Jesus predicts His own suffering and sacrifice for us.
   • To sustain our service, we must stay connected to how He serves us. Is your focus primarily on what you do for God, or on what He has done and continues to do for you?
   • Remembering His sacrifice, His carrying the burden, His constant work on our behalf is the fuel for sustained missions.
3. Kingdom Values - How Do You Define Greatness? (Matt 20:20-28):
   • The request of Zebedee's sons highlights a worldly definition of greatness (position, power).
   • Jesus redefines greatness: it's service, humility, being last, being a slave. It's "momness."
   • Sustaining our "yes" requires embracing His definition of greatness. Any position or influence is for serving, not being served. Servant leadership isn't an option; it's the only model.

Sermon Conclusion: We are committed to remaining a rescue society. This requires actively fighting the drift towards comfort and entitlement. We do this not by trying harder, but by remembering: remembering the grace we didn't deserve, remembering Jesus' immense sacrifice for us (suffering outside the gate to rescue us), and embracing His upside-down definition of greatness. Let's keep going out on rescue missions together.

Call to Action: Examine your heart:

• Where might entitlement be creeping in regarding your service? Ask God to help you see through the lens of grace.
• Reflect on how Jesus serves you daily. Let gratitude fuel your service.
• Are you pursuing worldly greatness or Kingdom greatness (service)? Recommit today to being part of the rescue society, choosing sustained sacrifice over comfort, fueled by the love and grace of Jesus.

Transcript

 Would you open it to Matthew chapter 20? 

 (...) 

 If you didn't bring your Bible And you're on your phone We're just going to assume you're building a wiffle ball team (Laughter) 

 (...) 

 I want to start this morning's teaching With some good news, bad news We'll start with the good news first Good news is I did graduate from seminary last week (Cheers) 

 (...) 

 As evidenced by this sweet shirt that the Cavallis got me (Laughter) You know(...) I just, I did want to say too Like not jokingly, I just wanted to say thanks for investing in me And I'm hoping that this serves our church body 

 (...) 

 So thank you, thank you for allowing me to do it And then if you don't know this, the church actually funded the project as well So it was an amazing thing So that's the good news Bad news is I missed last Sunday Which wasn't a big deal, I was fine with it until I watched the video 

 (...) 

 And I watched the video of Glen's preach and the baptisms And was thinking of all the Sundays Of all the Sundays to miss, last Sunday was not a good one Parents baptizing their kids I mean then it was husbands baptizing their wives Oh man 

 (...) 

 Yeah, fathers baptizing their sons What about the young man? He got baptized First and turned and baptized his own aunt (Applause) I mean 

 (...) 

 In-laws in the tank together In-laws Let me say it again In-laws in the tank together 

 (...) 

 Virgil, Sonny and his son Chris 

 (...) 

 I mean it was insane When Hailey was like I've known God my whole life but only through fear and shame I was just like what? What? 

 (...) 

 Then Roger Mueller, he didn't baptize his son, Danny baptized his son But he walked over and he grabbed the mic and he was like this is my son And whom I'm well pleased 

 (...) 

 I mean this is a wrong Sunday to miss I didn't even watch it, it took a couple days for me to watch it And then when I watch it you can ask my girls I was screaming and crying at the television They were like did the warriors lose? And I was like no People are being baptized right now So I just wanted to say thanks for all of those those of you who said yes And we're praying for you because We know that you don't put on the jersey of Team Jesus without some opposition So we're trusting God to continue the work he's begun in you Then Glenn preached and it was awesome And he touched the first sentence of our mission statement He talked about beholding Jesus It's what we've done for the last 20 It's what we're going to do for the next 20 And when we've been there 10,000 years Bright shining as the sun We'll continue to behold Jesus And just adore him for who he is And so he hit the first part of our mission statement That we are a radiant church not because of something we've done But because we see him and reflect him And we want to put his brilliance on display(...) The mission statement that we have as a church Was actually put together by Mike Young and Eric Riley and myself We were wrestling and we came up with we want to behold Jesus We want to put his brilliance on display by living lives That are obedient to the word of God Surrendered to the spirit of God and devoted to the mission of God And the mission statement stayed that way for quite some time Until we got a visit from Brian Mowry who leads our family of churches And he looked at the mission statement and he was kind of like How would you know you've succeeded? 

 (...) 

 Like what part of this actually can be measured? And he was kind of like let's say you do it Let's say you see Jesus Let's say you put his brilliance on display Let's say you're obedient to the word And you're all full of the spirit Devoted to the mission What? 

 (...) 

 What happens? 

 (...) 

 Then what? And he was like I'd encourage you guys to include that In your mission statement so that you can look at it and go Are we doing it? Are we doing it? So really quickly we rattled off Man if we are obedient to the word Surrendered to the spirit devoted to mission The lost are going to be found And prodigals Those who were a part of the church and stepped away Took a walk They're going to come running home And disciples are going to be made And we don't just want to multiply disciples We want to multiply churches Because it's the best way to save the lost And see prodigals come home is to plant churches So really quickly we were like hey 

 (...) 

 We should if we're seeing Jesus For seeing him rightly and being trained by him We should also see the lost found We should also be seeing prodigals return to the church 

 (...) 

 We should also see discipleship Not just the making of disciples but the maturing of disciples That should be taking place And we should be sowing and planting and sending Because our God was himself a sent one So that's kind of how that came about And I want to focus today on the second half The so that part of our mission statement So that the lost are found Prodigals come home Disciples are made And churches are planting Due to our 20th anniversary I've been doing a lot of reflecting On where we've been If you picked up the magazine There's lots of old photos and old stories About what it was like to walk into radiant for the first time There's lots of stories about the many buildings That we've met in And not many of them were as nice as the one we're now in But I've been reflecting But I've also been projecting into the future(...) What are we going to do for the next 20 years? 

 (...) 

 What does the next decade look like? Where are we headed? Is there anything we would change? Is this still the play, God? Is this still what you're asking us to do?(...) And what's been really interesting It might be my age It might be just this moment right now But I've actually been thinking Not what are we going to do for the next 20 years But I was thinking I've been thinking a lot about What will it take for radiant to celebrate a hundred year anniversary? 

 (...) 

 For this work to outlast us(...) For it to continue for generations And not just have the typical life cycle of a church But to outlast You know, the typical 40 year run of a church 

 (...) 

 So, as I was thinking about it And thinking about all the many things we could do I found myself watching that baptism video And going, "Yes, please. 

 (...) 

 Can we do more of that?"(...) This never gets old This never gets old to see Jesus transform lives Transform families(...) Add people to the church It never gets old to see people saved and added And I just found myself thinking, "This, let's do this. Let's do it every week And let's do it every week for the rest of my life I'll be happy to be a part of that." 

 (...) 

 I don't know if you guys have experienced this personally But I know it's true and can be true of organizations It can be true corporately We can't experience something of a mission creep 

 (...) 

 Where why you started And what you set out to do Is not in the end what you end up doing Does that make any sense? A little bit of drift, a departure(...) From kind of the mission that you set out with And I know that without us noticing Our mission can creep Our focus can creep Our allegiance can creep We don't tend to float upstream, do we? We tend to float downstream And find ourselves in a different place And slowly but surely Instead of the mission becoming to reach The world around us and to make disciples Slowly but surely our real mission becomes staying comfortable 

 (...) 

 Checking out(...) This is the mission that we can sometimes adopt Having real close friends And those friendships remaining, I guess, interrupted(...) Settling for the status quo Again, we would never say this or put it on a banner Beholding Jesus, putting his brilliance on display By pursuing, keeping up with the Joneses And all the status quo(...) Taking holidays can quickly become our mission Simply attending church In the way that we attend our kids' sporting events This can quickly become our goal and our values And I don't think, by the way, any of these things are necessarily wrong I don't think there's anything wrong with a holiday I don't think there's anything wrong with sporting events I don't think there's anything wrong with having close friendships But they're not ultimate And when we make those things the ultimate(...) We miss out on what God's doing in our lives 

 (...) 

 I attended with Joseph Rosales like a church-planting training 

 (...) 

 And the guy, the speaker, he was up there And he was trying to stir everybody up to plant a church He didn't know I was there as someone who's been leading a church for 20 years(...) But man, he shared something with me that's just been haunting me And I'm hoping it gets lodged in you and then begins to haunt you 

 (...) 

 But he talked about the origins of yacht clubs 

 (...) 

 And he said, "Do you know how yacht clubs got started?" I was like, "This guy must be from the East Coast.(...) No one cares." 

 (...) 

 And he was like, "Well, they were rescue societies." 

 (...) 

 What happened and how yacht clubs started is the people who were saved at sea They themselves were rescued(...) They were motivated when storms hit the coast to go out and risk their lives to rescue others 

 (...) 

 They started actually building shelters so that when the people were rescued they could come in and get warm There were showers, there were meals available to those who were rescued And they actually started to build lighthouses as well to keep people from crashing 

 (...) 

 In time, they started to think we can be together in this shelter,(...) enjoy each other's company, and enjoy the meals without going out to rescue those who were at sea 

 (...) 

 So we'll just be together and enjoy all that that means and brings And we'll stop being a rescue society, we'll become a yacht club 

 (...) 

 I think you can probably see where I'm going with this But man, as he shared it, I felt so convicted It feels so tempting in age and in this stage to think, "Oh, we've done that." 

 (...) 

 So tempting to settle So tempting to move towards our comforts So tempting to avoid unnecessary risk And I just want to say, very candidly, we are not becoming a yacht club I know that that temptation lies in all of us in some way, shape, or form But we will continue to be, for the next 20 years, a rescue society We will continue to risk, not for the sake of risk, but because risk is right And we will continue, as a group of people, to remember that we've been rescued Because that's what slowly started to happen for those people They forgot what it was like to be out there, tossed, back and forth, wondering if you were going to make it They tasted some security, forgot what it's like to be harassed 

 (...) 

 So I don't want to see our mission creep, and I know you don't either I've been thinking a lot about not how to start things, I feel fairly good at starting things I've been thinking a lot about how do we sustain those things(...) How do we sustain a life of sacrifice? Not how do we go out once, but how do we keep going out over and over again And risking our lives, giving our time, giving our money, giving our effort to see others rescued How do we sustain that? Yes Not just for a year, but decades 

 (...) 

 How do we continue to say yes to making sacrifices for the mission that God's put in front of us That's of interest to me, again, could be a middle-aged thing, but it's like, I know how people get into ministry(...) I'm like, how do you finish well? Because 13 of the 49 leaders featured in the Bible finish well(...) The majority do not 

 (...) 

 So you're like, I'm glad you said yes to God, but how do you keep saying yes? How do you sustain that yes? I know how you get married, how do you stay married? 

 (...) 

 I know how you get pregnant, how do you be a father who initiates your son? These are the bigger, better questions How do we sustain this yes? How do we sustain this level of sacrifice for decades? 

 (...) 

 Because my experience has been, it starts with like a yes, and then it turns into a yeah And then it's like a, oh, here we go again, and then it's like, man, can we not?(...) And then all of a sudden it's like, no, I served on kids, I've served on kids for decades 

 (...) 

 Right? How do we keep being the people who are like, yeah, yes, I'll serve 

 (...) 

 I think Matthew 20 has a few questions I want to put before you 

 (...) 

 Let's read this together because how you answer these questions I think will determine if you serve It'll determine how you serve, and these will certainly determine how long you'll serve Before you go, it's a yacht club for me, Trav 

 (...) 

 The first question is this, what do you deserve? 

 (...) 

 What do you deserve?(...) Jesus would say in Matthew 20, for the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner Who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day and sent them into his vineyard About nine in the morning he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing And he told them, you also go out and work in my vineyard and I'll pay you whatever is right So they went too, and he went out again about noon and about three in the afternoon And he did the same thing about five in the afternoon He went out and found still others standing around and he asked them, why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing? 

 (...) 

 And they said because no one has hired us, they answered and he said to them, you also go and work in my vineyard And when evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, call the workers, pay them their wages Beginning with the last ones hired and going on to the first The workers who were hired about five in the afternoon came, each one received a denarius So when those who came, who were hired first, they expected to receive more But each one of them also received a denarius When they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner These who were hired last worked only one hour And you've made them equal to us, who have borne the burden of the work and the heat of the day But he answered one of them, am I not being unfair to you, friend? 

 (...) 

 Didn't you agree to work for a denarius? 

 (...) 

 Take your pay and go I want to give the one who was hired last the same as I gave you Don't I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I'm generous? So the last will be first and the first will be last 

 (...) 

 If you were here on Easter, this is Jesus once again trying to dismantle the ladder that lives inside of us Jesus is trying to help us, those of us who think in terms of fair, understand how to view the world through grace We live life through the lenses of fair and Jesus' like here, try these grace goggles on Grace being God's unmerited favor, which really takes some time to grasp Maybe a lifetime to grasp Fair is not something I've ever had to teach my kids I never sat down and gave them a lesson on fair 

 (...) 

 Never had to teach it to them In fact, they throw it in my face Having never said I want to be this, they're like, you're not being fair I'm like, that's fine, I never said I wanted to be fair And so I'm not actually breaking the rules here 

 (...) 

 It's never been like, it's never been my word for the year in the new year This year I'm just hoping to be fair, you know We're born with a deep sense of justice because we're born in the image of God(...) We're born with a deep sense of right and wrong because we're born in the image of God 

 (...) 

 And we want fairness, it's in us Or so we say, when we've been sinned against or wronged, we want what is fair When we've sinned and we've done wrong, we want patience, forgiveness, empathy And for others to understand where we're coming from, overlook our offense And know that that's not our heart 

 (...) 

 So we want fair sometimes and then other times we want grace 

 (...) 

 And here's what you need to know In order to sustain your yes, you need to know that your desire for fair starts to increase when we begin to work and serve 

 (...) 

 When you begin to make sacrifices, your deep desire for fair starts to go bonkers Because our efforts should equal something I do this, then you do this It's there from birth, but it begins to grow when we perform and work and serve 

 (...) 

 I served and therefore I deserve 

 (...) 

 Entitlement begins to crop up in all of us I did this and I should get that They did this and they should get that So the vineyard in this passage is Israel And the workers who got there early, those are God's people Like Brent, what time did you get here today? 

 (...) 

 Six Five thirty Those who got here are five thirty, those are God's people, right? How many of you are here, you're fifteen minutes late You're in the back row, not because you're in the back row, you're fifteen minutes late So Israel's been serving God since the start of the day And those who are getting in late and getting paid the same wages Those are the Gentiles and the tax collectors, the sinners Matthew himself, the author of this book, would be one of those who started his day late So those who started their workday at five, those are the people getting grafted in And they're getting all the same benefits of salvation And they started the day at five o'clock They haven't worked nearly as long and they're enjoying all the benefits that the workers who got there early are enjoying And those workers who started the day early are upset, offended, they deserved more And I believe that the Lord would ask us right now at our twentieth And if you would, just close your eyes with me 

 (...) 

 I believe the Lord would ask us, those who are trying to sustain our yes with family And at work, and at church, I believe the Lord would ask, have I been unfair? 

 (...) 

 Have I been unfair to you? 

 (...) 

 Didn't you agree to work for a denarius? 

 (...) 

 I believe God would say to you, haven't I fulfilled my word to you?(...) Haven't I been faithful to my promise over your life? 

 (...) 

 I believe the Lord would say to you, don't I have a right to do what I want with my own money? 

 (...) 

 I think God would say to us this morning,(...) are you sure you're going to tell me what to do? 

 (...) 

 You sure you want to do that? 

 (...) 

 And I believe you would ask us, are you envious because I'm generous? 

 (...) 

 Do you begrudge my generosity? 

 (...) 

 Our desire, folks, to have is not a bad thing(...) But our desire to have can quickly become a desire for others not to have 

 (...) 

 Because there's only so much to go around 

 (...) 

 What happens for you when other people receive all the same payoffs without putting in the same work? 

 (...) 

 We need everyone who shows up to pull off this vineyard Those who show up at six, eight, nine, and eleven And you need to answer the question, what do I deserve? 

 (...) 

 Because you never deserve more than to serve God and serve others You never deserve more than to serve God and serve others And entitlement creeps in so quick(...) I don't deserve my kids can be said two ways When they're asleep and I'm gazing upon their faces lit by the moon I look to God and I'm like, I don't deserve these kids, you know? And then the very next morning, like eight hours later when someone like dumps the milk You're like, what God have I done to deserve this? 

 (...) 

 Like, why have you done this to me? You know, because I'm entitled to sleep I'm entitled to something more than serving them The same's true with our wives or spouses, right? It's like, God, you know, I don't deserve this And then it's like, God, I do not deserve this This what you've given me 

 (...) 

 You never outgrow, we're never gonna, hey, we're 20 years in, guess what? 

 (...) 

 We're just gonna serve for another 20 

 (...) 

 I was hoping I'd give you, I have a better answer, I don't I don't have any hope 

 (...) 

 I don't And that's because Jesus said, if you wanted to follow me, you should take up your cross, you should come and grow No, die(...) And that's been a really hard part of being a pastor 

 (...) 

 I feel like I just crouched down and now I'm really talking without a filter But churches are like, hey, let's teach everybody to live a better life And Jesus is like, I'm gonna teach them to die a better death 

 (...) 

 And it's really tough(...) It's just what we're gonna do And we're gonna keep investing our lives And we're gonna keep sewing and we're gonna keep sewing And we're gonna watch out for entitlement 

 (...) 

 Because it's so sneaky 

 (...) 

 As Christians, we gave up on fair, that's like why we're here We all agreed, we all met in the foyer and we're like, bring it up, let's give up on fair We don't want what we deserve You do not want what you deserve That's what you've agreed to as a Christian 

 (...) 

 The second thing is, how do you see God? 

 (...) 

 Your view of God is gonna be really important for the next couple decades Now Jesus was going up to Jerusalem on the way He took the twelve aside And He said to them, we're going up to Jerusalem And the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the teachers of the law They will condemn Him to death And will hand Him over to the Gentiles to be mocked, flogged, and crucified 

 (...) 

 And on the third day, He will be raised to life My question for you is, are you primarily serving Him Or are you in touch with the very real ways that He's serving you Because if you get out of touch with the ways that Jesus has served you You won't serve or you won't serve long You've gotta stay in touch with that Are you doing stuff for God? 

 (...) 

 Or is God doing stuff for you? And what do you find yourself focused on? Because if you're focused on, here I am God, given it everything I got Well you're playing hard to get, I'm answering calls down here You're never in the office If that's the way your thinking is going You won't serve very long And you won't sustain your yes But if you stay in touch with the very real ways He's served and sacrificed for you That you once were lost at sea and you were rescued This is the fuel for those missions 

 (...) 

 So the person who has a sustained yes is repeating this Jesus suffered(...) Jesus carries(...) Jesus bore the weight Jesus paid it all Jesus is planning Jesus is dying Jesus is gifting Jesus is suffering Jesus is giving Jesus is leading Jesus is serving Jesus is working When Jesus and I pick up the couch together He has the heavier end 

 (...) 

 And then He goes, "Thanks for helping me move that, buddy" 

 (...) 

 That is the thinking of somebody who goes for another couple missions 

 (...) 

 Lastly, worship team, would you guys come? 

 (...) 

 How do you define greatness? 

 (...) 

 This will mess with your sustained yes 

 (...) 

 How would you define God? How would you describe God? Yes But how would you define greatness? 

 (...) 

 What's your definition of greatness? Jesus goes on Then the mother of Zebedee's sons came to Jesus with her sons And kneeling down asked for a favor of Him What is it you want? He asked and she said, "Grant that one of these two sons of mine may sit at your right And the other at your left in your kingdom" 

 (...) 

 You don't know what you're asking, Jesus said to them Can you drink the cup I'm going to drink? We can, they answered And Jesus said to them, "Sweet, you will, you will indeed drink from the cup But to sit at my right or my left is not for me to grant These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared by my Father When the ten heard about this, they were indignant with the brothers And Jesus called them together And He said, "You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lorded over them And their high officials exercise authority over them Yeah, well not so with you Instead whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant And whoever wants to be first must be your slave Just as the son of man did not come to be served But to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many What do you think it means to be great? 

 (...) 

 What's that position on the field? How would you define it? I love this because Jesus says, "Oh, don't pursue greatness,(...) you idiots Don't pursue greatness, be humble." No, He says, "Oh, you want to be great? Great Let me redefine greatness for you It's lastness It's lastness, it's lowliness It's slavery, it's momness It's momness It's greatness in His eyes(...) And slowly, over time, we start to buy into a different definition of greatness This is what it would mean to be great And this is how I would define it or describe it You know how those other guys, they lorded over you They're in positions of power and they speak orders and people do them Well, you're in the Lord's army now And my army doesn't work that way No matter how great you become in my kingdom It'll never mean anything more than serving God and serving others(...) If you are given a position, folks, it is so that you can serve It's not so that you can be served I love in Christian circles, everyone's like, "Well, we practice servant leadership As if there's any other option in the Bible" 

 (...) 

 It's like, "Well, it's servant leadership here in our church" And it's like, "Yeah, it's servant leadership in every church I don't know why there's another option" Jesus made it really clear What do you think it means to be great?(...) And where did you get that idea? 

 (...) 

 Exploring these three things I think will keep us in the game Would you stand with me? 

 (...) 

 We're going to come to the table, we're going to remember the sacrifice that Christ made 

 (...) 

 That we were lost, we were blind, now we see 

 (...) 

 We're going to come to the table remembering what He has done and who He is and what He's carried And I also just want to say there's such a big difference, Chris brought this up to me There's such a big difference between a draft and people enrolling in the army I was saying, "I choose this, not somebody else chose this for me" 

 (...) 

 Please hear me, I won't get to teach again until after our 20th anniversary 

 (...) 

 We're not doing a yacht club 

 (...) 

 I know that the ceiling looks like the belly of a boat 

 (...) 

 This will remain a rescue society and we'll fight entitlement 

 (...) 

 By remembering, you know, not that we should do more and do better, but that Jesus suffered outside the gates 

 (...) 

 He came out and found us 

 (...) 

 He left what was safe, secure, and perfect in order to reach and to bleed and to suffer for us So as you come to the table, let's just exalt Him, but then let's offer our lives(...) If you're here and you're like, "I don't want to be a part of a yacht society" Would you just encourage me by putting your hand in the air? 

 (...) 

 If you're here and you're tempted by spare top-siders, would you put your hand in the air? I am too, I'm totally with you, man, we just can't do that We can't do it, we don't want to stand before Him and say, "Yeah, we settled, we arrived, we had a sweet sanctuary" I've preached over a thousand sermons now, I can just dig up the old ones You don't remember what I taught and neither do I And I can just re-preach them, and we can just ride this thing out together It's kind of fat and happy right now(...) We're going back out, we're going back out together