WEBVTT 00:00:02.399 --> 00:00:04.480 Welcome to the MetaCurch Podcast. 00:00:04.559 --> 00:00:05.440 My name is Clayton. 00:00:05.519 --> 00:00:14.240 I'm the pastor at MetaCurch, and I hope that today's message is inspiring and enlightening and really builds you up wherever you're at in life. 00:00:16.399 --> 00:00:19.199 Man, it is so good to be here with you guys. 00:00:19.359 --> 00:00:24.079 Uh, wherever you're joining us from, uh, if you're online, man, I'm grateful that we have an online ministry. 00:00:24.239 --> 00:00:34.399 If you're online and you're in the San Antonio area, I would love for you to come to one of our venues because uh we are called to gather together as the body of Christ, the supernatural body and bride of Christ. 00:00:34.479 --> 00:00:37.119 It matters uh that you come together as much as you can. 00:00:37.200 --> 00:00:40.880 Uh, for those who are with us in our Holodus venue, I'm just so proud, man. 00:00:40.960 --> 00:00:42.320 I'm so proud of the work going on. 00:00:42.479 --> 00:00:46.960 I'm just, man, it means a lot that you guys are out there taking ground for the kingdom. 00:00:47.039 --> 00:00:48.880 And uh, so I want to shout you out as well. 00:00:49.039 --> 00:00:51.200 If you're new with us, my name's Clayton. 00:00:51.280 --> 00:00:53.280 I'm the lead pastor here at MetaCurch. 00:00:53.439 --> 00:00:55.200 I'm so glad that you joined us. 00:00:55.359 --> 00:00:59.119 We are going line by line through Luke's gospel. 00:00:59.280 --> 00:01:04.079 And this is cool for those of you who have been here all through this fulfilled journey. 00:01:04.239 --> 00:01:07.519 Uh, we started this one year ago today. 00:01:07.680 --> 00:01:09.120 We started going through Luke. 00:01:09.280 --> 00:01:12.480 Now, just someone's gonna go online and fact check me. 00:01:12.640 --> 00:01:15.120 We started this 364 days ago. 00:01:15.200 --> 00:01:18.640 Okay, so before you send me that email, I'm gonna call that a I'm rounding up. 00:01:18.719 --> 00:01:20.640 Okay, uh, we started this a year ago. 00:01:20.799 --> 00:01:26.400 We're now in chapter six, and we're in a section that we've called the kingdom way. 00:01:26.879 --> 00:01:27.680 The kingdom way. 00:01:28.000 --> 00:01:34.400 This is where Jesus is modeling, demonstrating how to live as a part of the kingdom of God right now. 00:01:34.719 --> 00:01:39.120 And now he's explicitly teaching us in his most famous sermon. 00:01:39.280 --> 00:01:41.359 You've probably heard it called the Sermon on the Mount. 00:01:41.439 --> 00:01:44.079 We believe Jesus preached the sermon everywhere he went. 00:01:44.319 --> 00:01:46.560 Matthew records one of the times he preached it. 00:01:46.719 --> 00:01:49.439 Luke is now recording one of the times that he preached it. 00:01:49.599 --> 00:01:59.920 And he is getting us to understand how to live in and operate in the kingdom of God right now while we are still here on earth. 00:02:00.159 --> 00:02:04.719 How we are all called to build the kingdom of God right here on earth. 00:02:04.959 --> 00:02:12.000 Now, if you missed last week, we were looking at this same passage called the Beatitudes, and we did an overview that matters. 00:02:12.319 --> 00:02:19.039 So if today speaks to you and you missed last week, I want to encourage you to go to youtube.com slash metachurch. 00:02:19.199 --> 00:02:21.840 I don't need you to watch all the hundreds of sermons in the past. 00:02:21.919 --> 00:02:22.960 You can if you want to. 00:02:23.120 --> 00:02:32.159 I really need you to watch last Sundays, because that will give you the frame to understand the next four weeks, where we're now digging deeper into this passage. 00:02:32.319 --> 00:02:35.199 I will recap just so you can track with me today. 00:02:35.360 --> 00:02:43.360 What we learned in summation in what Jesus is telling us in what's called the Beatitudes is Jesus is trying to get across the point. 00:02:43.680 --> 00:02:46.879 We do not know how life works. 00:02:48.560 --> 00:03:02.080 Now, if you have come to one of our venues or you're online with us and you have a prideful spirit and you think you've got life figured out, you may not have ears to hear what Jesus has for you today. 00:03:02.240 --> 00:03:17.520 And so my encouragement as you begin to tune me out is that when living as your own God fails you and you find rock bottom, please come back to Metachurch and we will get you right where you are and love you where you are, and we'll introduce you to Jesus' way of life. 00:03:17.840 --> 00:03:19.840 I'm not being ugly right now. 00:03:20.159 --> 00:03:21.360 I needed this. 00:03:21.599 --> 00:03:31.840 I thought I had life figured out, and so I tried to build my own kingdom and live as my own God, and it turns out I make a really terrible God. 00:03:33.039 --> 00:03:34.639 Nothing but disaster. 00:03:34.879 --> 00:03:40.719 And sometimes we have to get to the end of ourselves before we are willing to humble ourselves and look to God for the answers. 00:03:40.960 --> 00:03:49.520 Jesus is offering you a shortcut today, but you have to have the humility to accept that Jesus is telling you you don't know how life works. 00:03:50.400 --> 00:03:51.520 It's really interesting. 00:03:51.680 --> 00:03:56.560 I was out most of yesterday at one of our prisons here in town. 00:03:56.719 --> 00:03:59.199 I was in Dilly, Texas, at the Briscoe unit. 00:03:59.360 --> 00:04:03.599 I was preaching there to inmates, some of them have parole tomorrow. 00:04:03.759 --> 00:04:07.439 Some of them are there for 10 years, some for 40, some are never getting out. 00:04:07.759 --> 00:04:10.159 I taught this same passage. 00:04:10.960 --> 00:04:12.960 And I had to start here. 00:04:13.360 --> 00:04:15.360 You don't know how life works. 00:04:15.599 --> 00:04:22.079 And when you live in opposition to how God tells us life works, you end up in trouble. 00:04:22.319 --> 00:04:27.360 It was not hard to convince these men because these men have found themselves in trouble. 00:04:28.560 --> 00:04:44.879 And the most beautiful thing is I presented them an opportunity, and that opportunity is to start living for and operating in and building God's kingdom, not in 40 years when they finally walk out as free men, but right here and right now. 00:04:46.639 --> 00:04:48.560 Here's what I let them know. 00:04:48.800 --> 00:05:01.439 Um that they can live freer lives behind bars and chain link and barbed wire than many, many Christians are living in the free world. 00:05:01.680 --> 00:05:11.920 Here's what you need to know you will never find a freer man than one who is living out the purpose that God placed on their lives to build God's kingdom. 00:05:13.360 --> 00:05:19.920 And so I told them because some of them I got to know, and it's like, man, they are behind bars and they're building the kingdom every day. 00:05:20.160 --> 00:05:23.360 I had a guy tell me I've served four, I have ten more. 00:05:23.600 --> 00:05:27.839 And as God has placed me here, I wouldn't be anywhere else. 00:05:28.160 --> 00:05:32.160 And I'm looking around facilities that are rough. 00:05:34.319 --> 00:05:36.079 And he means it. 00:05:36.240 --> 00:05:49.120 And he said, For the next 10 years, God's given me the opportunity, surrounded by violence, surrounded by hopelessness, to build the kingdom of God and to encourage his fellow incarcerated men in the Briscoe unit. 00:05:49.439 --> 00:05:57.759 And I told him, Brother, you are more free behind bars than most Christians are out in the real world, because we are living for the wrong kingdoms. 00:05:57.839 --> 00:06:09.759 And so we are held captive to those kingdoms, we're held captive to our sin, we're held captive to our pride, we're held captive to our habits, we are held captive to those who hold influence over us, who do not care about us and would not give their lives for us. 00:06:09.920 --> 00:06:14.879 And these men are living enslaved to King Jesus and King Jesus. 00:06:14.959 --> 00:06:19.360 I don't care where they are, I don't care what unit they're in, King Jesus has set them free. 00:06:22.959 --> 00:06:25.199 Here's the question we asked last week. 00:06:25.439 --> 00:06:28.800 I asked the inmates this how do you keep score? 00:06:29.680 --> 00:06:30.879 Everyone keep score. 00:06:31.040 --> 00:06:31.600 You have to. 00:06:31.759 --> 00:06:34.319 If not, you don't know when you win. 00:06:34.480 --> 00:06:40.639 You have to keep if we didn't keep score, we wouldn't know that the Spurs closed out game six 139 to 109. 00:06:40.720 --> 00:06:42.639 We would a 30-point blowout. 00:06:43.040 --> 00:06:47.519 We would we wouldn't know that that we're moving on to sweep the Oklahoma City Thunder in Jesus' name. 00:06:47.600 --> 00:06:48.720 We wouldn't know that. 00:06:51.600 --> 00:06:55.680 I was listening, I thought one person would yell out in gratitude for the Spurs. 00:06:58.959 --> 00:07:00.480 Everyone keeps score. 00:07:00.879 --> 00:07:03.199 And the question is, how do you keep score? 00:07:03.680 --> 00:07:04.720 What is the win? 00:07:04.959 --> 00:07:07.120 What's the win relationally, financially? 00:07:07.199 --> 00:07:08.319 What's the win in your career? 00:07:08.480 --> 00:07:10.160 What is the win in your social circle? 00:07:10.319 --> 00:07:12.240 What are what are the things you're after? 00:07:12.959 --> 00:07:16.800 Those are the things that we are looking for for success. 00:07:17.839 --> 00:07:29.199 And for almost everyone, including Christians, we are allowing the world around us and the kingdoms of this world to determine the metrics for success, which means the world is setting our scoreboard. 00:07:29.439 --> 00:07:35.759 And Jesus comes in and he gives us this list that we're gonna read in a minute, where he goes, You know who's really blessed? 00:07:36.000 --> 00:07:39.519 You know who really you should look at as the people who have it going on? 00:07:39.759 --> 00:07:44.240 The poor, the hungry, the weeping, the hated. 00:07:44.480 --> 00:07:46.399 Jesus says, You know who you should take pity on? 00:07:46.560 --> 00:07:52.639 The rich, the fool, the laughing, those who are loved by everyone. 00:07:52.959 --> 00:07:57.439 He's just getting your attention to go, you don't know how life works. 00:07:57.920 --> 00:08:00.560 You don't know how to keep score. 00:08:01.199 --> 00:08:08.800 Now, one of the things we made clear last week is this message is not Jesus doing behavioral modification. 00:08:09.040 --> 00:08:16.079 This isn't Jesus slapping you on the knuckles and saying, You better stop that, you better start this, and you better dress this way and look this way and vote this way. 00:08:16.560 --> 00:08:18.560 This isn't what Jesus does. 00:08:18.800 --> 00:08:26.720 Jesus is looking for actual transformation, and true transformation always comes from the inside out. 00:08:27.839 --> 00:08:29.439 I was speaking to inmates. 00:08:29.600 --> 00:08:34.559 All they get all the time in their rehabilitation program is behavioral modification. 00:08:34.720 --> 00:08:39.600 You have to stop doing drugs, stop being so violent, stop embezzling, stop, start, stop, start. 00:08:39.679 --> 00:08:41.039 Behavior, behavior, behavior. 00:08:41.200 --> 00:08:44.879 I told them as soon as I got up, I'm not gonna tell you about your behavior. 00:08:45.679 --> 00:08:47.279 I want your heart. 00:08:47.919 --> 00:08:50.399 I want transformation at the level of your soul. 00:08:50.559 --> 00:08:54.799 And if transformation will come on the inside, the behaviors will take care of themselves. 00:08:55.039 --> 00:08:57.679 I I'm just honest with these guys because I love them. 00:08:57.840 --> 00:08:58.960 I'm not gonna lie to them. 00:08:59.200 --> 00:09:06.159 They know, and I know the majority of men who get out of prison, they're paroled out, end up back in prison. 00:09:06.720 --> 00:09:07.919 I told them why. 00:09:08.159 --> 00:09:18.320 Because all you did was change behaviors, but your inside is still broken, and life will squeeze you, life will bring pressure, and when pressure comes, what's on the inside comes out. 00:09:19.120 --> 00:09:20.240 This is what religion does. 00:09:20.399 --> 00:09:22.000 Religion goes, change your behavior. 00:09:22.240 --> 00:09:23.600 Get the outside right. 00:09:23.840 --> 00:09:25.360 I don't care about the outside. 00:09:25.519 --> 00:09:29.600 I don't care that you look like a Christian and that you quote scriptures at me like a Christian. 00:09:29.919 --> 00:09:35.360 Because you can talk to a brother like you love and care about them, but you hate them in your heart. 00:09:36.080 --> 00:09:42.080 You can be the perfect gentleman when you are in front of a woman, but you're doing nasty things to her in your mind. 00:09:43.120 --> 00:09:51.840 The inside has not been transformed, and so your behaviors can last as long as you can white knuckle them, but when pressure comes, what's on the inside comes out. 00:09:52.000 --> 00:10:00.879 And so Jesus is starting on the inside, he's starting with your heart, he's starting with your mind, he's questioning your paradigms, he's saying, You don't know how life works, but there's good news. 00:10:01.120 --> 00:10:06.240 He will show us, he will show us how life works, and he is starting right here in this list. 00:10:06.399 --> 00:10:15.840 Now, the last piece of background, so I can walk into the text, is to understand this passage, you have to understand the concept of now versus later. 00:10:16.639 --> 00:10:36.159 Because what Jesus is asking you to do is to lose now so you can win forever, to sacrifice now so you can be rewarded later, to carry your cross now so that you can wear a crown later. 00:10:36.559 --> 00:10:39.360 If you don't understand that, you don't understand the passage. 00:10:39.519 --> 00:10:41.200 Let's look at the passage in context. 00:10:41.360 --> 00:10:42.559 We'll read this whole section. 00:10:42.639 --> 00:10:45.360 We're in Luke chapter 6, starting in verse 20. 00:10:45.679 --> 00:10:50.559 It says, Then Jesus, looking up at his disciples, put a pin in that, please. 00:10:50.720 --> 00:10:55.840 Looking up at his disciples, Jesus said, Blessed are you who are poor because the kingdom of God is yours. 00:10:56.000 --> 00:10:58.639 Blessed are you who are hungry now, because you will be filled. 00:10:58.799 --> 00:11:01.039 Blessed are you who weep now because you will laugh. 00:11:01.200 --> 00:11:07.360 Blessed are you when people hate you, when they exclude you, insult you, slander your name is evil because of the Son of Man. 00:11:07.519 --> 00:11:09.600 Rejoice in that day and leap for joy. 00:11:09.759 --> 00:11:15.679 Take note, your reward is great in heaven, for this is the way they used to treat the prophets. 00:11:15.919 --> 00:11:17.519 But woe to you. 00:11:17.759 --> 00:11:22.240 Warning, woe to you who are rich, for you have received your comfort. 00:11:22.399 --> 00:11:25.039 Woe to you who are now full, for you will be hungry. 00:11:25.200 --> 00:11:28.159 Woe to you who are now laughing, for you will mourn and weep. 00:11:28.320 --> 00:11:33.840 Woe to you when all people speak well of you, for this is the way they used to treat the false prophets. 00:11:34.799 --> 00:11:38.480 This is the passage we're going to be dissecting over the next four weeks. 00:11:38.720 --> 00:11:40.879 And I told you, you have to put a pin in this. 00:11:41.039 --> 00:11:50.559 We know there are thousands of people, Israelites and non-Israelites, Jerusalem, Judea, the seacoast of Tyre and Sidon, all these people have gathered to hear from Jesus. 00:11:50.639 --> 00:11:51.519 But what does it say? 00:11:51.679 --> 00:11:54.559 He doesn't address the crowd, he doesn't address the thousands. 00:11:54.720 --> 00:12:00.720 It says he looks over at his disciples, not the thousands, about a hundred, maybe a hundred and twenty. 00:12:01.039 --> 00:12:02.559 He's talking to them. 00:12:02.720 --> 00:12:06.720 This is a rhetorical device Jesus uses all the time. 00:12:06.960 --> 00:12:16.559 Sometimes he looks and he talks to the Pharisees, but he is talking to them so that he can talk through them to communicate to the crowd. 00:12:16.720 --> 00:12:18.000 We do this every once in a while. 00:12:18.399 --> 00:12:28.240 If you're a parent who is strategic, sometimes when you need to get after your older child, you will hold it until you're at the table with them and their younger sibling. 00:12:28.480 --> 00:12:32.480 You talk to the older one because you want the younger one to hear them. 00:12:32.559 --> 00:12:36.799 You're talking to them, through them, so the younger one will not repeat the mistakes of the older one. 00:12:36.879 --> 00:12:39.279 Some of you are offended, like I would never call my child out. 00:12:39.600 --> 00:12:40.720 Your child needs to be caught up. 00:12:40.879 --> 00:12:42.559 Okay, grow up, be a good parent. 00:12:42.720 --> 00:12:45.519 It's like we do this sometimes, Jesus does it a lot. 00:12:46.000 --> 00:12:47.600 And this matters. 00:12:48.159 --> 00:12:55.600 He addresses this sermon to those who already have a relationship with him and are already following him. 00:12:57.200 --> 00:13:05.919 When he says, Blessed are you who are poor, hungry, weeping, and hated, his disciples are experiencing that because they're following him. 00:13:06.960 --> 00:13:09.759 Peter, Andrew, James, and John, they were fishermen. 00:13:09.919 --> 00:13:15.200 The fish that they would get in that region are tilapia, and they probably were quite wealthy. 00:13:15.360 --> 00:13:17.360 The fishing trade was lucrative. 00:13:18.080 --> 00:13:21.919 Peter, before he followed Jesus, never wondered about where the next meal was coming from. 00:13:22.080 --> 00:13:24.960 Now he is because of following Jesus. 00:13:25.200 --> 00:13:26.639 Jesus looks at his disciples. 00:13:26.799 --> 00:13:28.240 Here's the main thing I need you to know. 00:13:28.399 --> 00:13:33.039 He's looking at people, listen, in relationship and following him already. 00:13:33.519 --> 00:13:39.120 This sermon is not about how to get into relationship with Jesus. 00:13:39.679 --> 00:13:43.440 This sermon is not about how to go to heaven when you die. 00:13:44.320 --> 00:13:51.519 When you read that, you break the harmony of scripture because this is about how we change and how we work. 00:13:51.919 --> 00:13:58.320 And we know from Jesus Himself and from the apostles, we do not work our way into relationship with Jesus. 00:13:58.480 --> 00:13:58.960 Amen? 00:13:59.200 --> 00:14:06.720 Scripture says it is not by works of righteousness that we have done, it's according to his mercy that he has saved us. 00:14:06.879 --> 00:14:14.639 That it is by grace through faith that we are saved, not by our works, or else we might boast about our own salvation. 00:14:14.879 --> 00:14:15.519 Amen. 00:14:15.759 --> 00:14:19.679 This is not a sermon about how to gain eternal life. 00:14:19.919 --> 00:14:24.799 This is a sermon about how to live as a child of the kingdom. 00:14:25.759 --> 00:14:35.279 This is a sermon not about getting to heaven when you die, but living in a way while you're on earth where you start bringing these glimpses of heaven down to your reality. 00:14:35.919 --> 00:14:38.960 I need you to know that so that you can digest this appropriately. 00:14:39.120 --> 00:14:43.120 Today we're looking at our first pair: rich versus poor. 00:14:43.279 --> 00:14:44.799 Let's look at the two verses. 00:14:45.039 --> 00:14:51.519 Verse 20, looking up, Jesus said, Blessed are you who are poor, because the kingdom of God is yours, verse 24. 00:14:51.759 --> 00:14:58.879 But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your comfort. 00:14:59.759 --> 00:15:02.639 I want to just emphasize what this is not saying. 00:15:02.879 --> 00:15:10.159 This is not teaching a poverty gospel, that you are blessed based on how little money you have. 00:15:10.720 --> 00:15:23.440 Some of you have very little money to your name, not because you're following Christ, but because you are so influenced by the kingdoms of this world that you're spending money that you don't have to try and find security in other people's impression of you. 00:15:23.600 --> 00:15:26.080 That is not righteousness, that's foolishness. 00:15:26.320 --> 00:15:30.879 Jesus isn't saying you're blessed because you have spent yourself into$20,000 of debt. 00:15:31.039 --> 00:15:32.159 That's not what he's saying. 00:15:32.399 --> 00:15:37.519 This isn't about external factors, this is about an internal position. 00:15:37.919 --> 00:15:41.360 Today, what we're looking at is security. 00:15:41.840 --> 00:15:44.559 This first pairing is about security. 00:15:44.879 --> 00:15:50.639 And the question Jesus is asking is what do you trust? 00:15:51.759 --> 00:15:54.799 What are you looking to for your security? 00:15:54.960 --> 00:15:57.279 What are you looking to for your comfort? 00:15:57.440 --> 00:16:05.840 And for most of us, most of the time, the answer is we are looking to the things of this world because we don't know how to live. 00:16:07.440 --> 00:16:09.600 Jesus uses two very specific words here. 00:16:09.679 --> 00:16:13.039 Every once in a while, we will dig into the original biblical languages. 00:16:13.200 --> 00:16:15.600 The New Testament was written in Greek. 00:16:15.840 --> 00:16:18.879 The word for poor is the word potokos. 00:16:19.120 --> 00:16:26.080 Potokos, and here's what it means: a profound realization of utter dependence. 00:16:26.159 --> 00:16:33.600 If you're taking notes so you remember this and you're not playing games, a profound realization of utter dependence. 00:16:33.919 --> 00:16:38.879 My guess is every person that is listening to this has experienced this at some point. 00:16:40.000 --> 00:16:42.399 Where all of a sudden the light bulb came on. 00:16:42.559 --> 00:16:57.279 For some of you, this happened when you had your first apartment and you had no budget, and you pulled up the website to pay your rent, and then you opened the app to check your bank account, and you had far less in your bank account than you owed for rent. 00:16:58.159 --> 00:17:00.159 That sinking feeling. 00:17:00.480 --> 00:17:03.600 When I was in my 20s, I worked at a furniture store. 00:17:03.759 --> 00:17:07.519 I moved very heavy furniture, and uh, something about me, I love to eat. 00:17:07.599 --> 00:17:12.480 I eat a lot, and we had worked way past lunchtime moving very heavy furniture. 00:17:12.799 --> 00:17:17.839 A full seater, 600-pound headboard is what we had moved that day. 00:17:18.079 --> 00:17:19.839 I get back and finally take a lunch break. 00:17:19.920 --> 00:17:21.519 There's a subway next door to us. 00:17:21.680 --> 00:17:28.079 I don't know what angel had touched the sandwich artist that day. 00:17:30.160 --> 00:17:32.480 My sandwich could have been on a commercial, bro. 00:17:32.640 --> 00:17:38.960 It was like, it was, I don't know if I was just hungry, it was perfect, it was toasted to perfection. 00:17:39.200 --> 00:17:49.039 And I was, if they had such thing as a two-foot sub, I would have bought a two, I got a foot long, and I'm gonna get chips, and I'm getting cookies because Subway cookies absolutely slap. 00:17:49.119 --> 00:17:50.559 I'm so excited. 00:17:51.599 --> 00:17:56.079 And you already know I swipe my debit card and it declines. 00:17:57.279 --> 00:17:59.200 And I swipe it again and it declines. 00:17:59.359 --> 00:18:08.799 And because we're all dumb, I do the thing we all do where I rub it like like it's like it's a Nintendo controller that I can just blow in the cartridge. 00:18:09.279 --> 00:18:12.160 I'm just gonna transfer money from my peck right into my. 00:18:13.680 --> 00:18:15.519 I'm like, that'll probably work. 00:18:16.640 --> 00:18:24.480 And there was a long line behind me, and I just remember the worker was like, I'm sorry. 00:18:25.119 --> 00:18:26.880 And I was patokos. 00:18:27.039 --> 00:18:38.480 I I was so aware that I'm utterly dependent on someone to pay for my meal, this person to show me some grace, and they just said, I'm sorry. 00:18:38.720 --> 00:18:43.039 And I said, What's gonna happen to my sandwich? 00:18:46.240 --> 00:18:50.720 And she said, Well, the the policy, we have to throw it away. 00:18:51.599 --> 00:18:54.160 And I said, And what trash can? 00:18:58.240 --> 00:19:05.440 My guess is every adult has been in that moment where you realize, oh no, I don't have it. 00:19:05.599 --> 00:19:06.960 I'm dependent now. 00:19:07.200 --> 00:19:16.880 You've probably felt that in relationships we've all been broken up with, and in that moment, you like your only option is to try like to manipulate them or guilt them or something into not breaking up with you. 00:19:16.960 --> 00:19:19.519 You're just totally dependent on them in that situation. 00:19:19.759 --> 00:19:28.880 Maybe you've made like a crucial mistake in a relationship, and you know you're completely dependent on their mercy and forgiveness. 00:19:29.359 --> 00:19:34.559 Maybe you've messed up at work, maybe you've experienced this in your career where you're like, it's out of my hands now. 00:19:34.799 --> 00:19:43.519 We all know this feeling, and because we all know that feeling, we have some sense of being able to understand what Jesus says in Matthew's gospel. 00:19:43.680 --> 00:19:47.839 He records a sermon where Jesus says, Blessed are the poor in spirit. 00:19:48.079 --> 00:19:57.519 What it means is every day you have a profound realization that you are completely dependent on Jesus Christ. 00:19:58.799 --> 00:20:03.039 There is no amount of money in your bank account that is going to give you security. 00:20:03.279 --> 00:20:06.480 There is no amount of a perfect marriage that is going to give you security. 00:20:06.640 --> 00:20:12.480 There are no amount of children you can have, no amount of virality, influence, or attention you can gain. 00:20:13.440 --> 00:20:15.599 And the world is offering you this all of the time. 00:20:15.759 --> 00:20:17.119 We're all looking for security. 00:20:17.279 --> 00:20:18.319 I tell you this all the time. 00:20:18.559 --> 00:20:22.400 There are two things that every person needs to be psychologically safe. 00:20:22.559 --> 00:20:24.079 You need significance and security. 00:20:24.160 --> 00:20:25.839 And you will look for them until you find them. 00:20:25.920 --> 00:20:32.960 And the world will offer you here's security and money, here is security in sex, here is security and power, here is security and career. 00:20:33.119 --> 00:20:36.880 And the problem is the world cannot satisfy the longing of your soul. 00:20:37.200 --> 00:20:42.720 So you are trying to quench a spiritual thirst, and the world is offering you salt water. 00:20:43.680 --> 00:20:47.519 And we just keep drinking it, and foolishly we're like, all right, money didn't do it. 00:20:47.680 --> 00:20:48.960 What if I get more chicks? 00:20:49.119 --> 00:20:50.480 What if I get more attention? 00:20:50.640 --> 00:20:52.000 What if I go viral online? 00:20:52.240 --> 00:20:58.640 What if I, what if I, what if I, what if the kingdoms of the world can give me security, and they can't? 00:20:59.519 --> 00:21:07.519 Blessed are the poor, the potokos, those who live every day, every moment with a profound realization it is only Jesus who can give us security. 00:21:07.759 --> 00:21:11.359 The opposite is not the potokos, it's the plusios. 00:21:12.160 --> 00:21:14.240 Woe to those who are rich, plusios. 00:21:14.799 --> 00:21:18.319 This means an arrogant sense of self-reliance. 00:21:19.279 --> 00:21:27.359 I'm not like a world traveler by any means, but I've been to some countries and I've been to areas that are third world developing. 00:21:28.559 --> 00:21:36.400 There is such an advantage in those areas for people being able to understand what Jesus is teaching here because they know dependence. 00:21:36.799 --> 00:21:41.519 They live in dependence for survival. 00:21:41.839 --> 00:21:50.079 And so the idea that there is a God who loves them and created them and gave his life for them that they can depend on, they're just like, yes, give me that. 00:21:51.440 --> 00:21:57.279 In the West and especially in America, we do not do dependence, we do independence. 00:21:57.599 --> 00:22:03.200 We don't just like independence, we don't just like Love, independence, we declare independence. 00:22:03.279 --> 00:22:04.000 You know what I'm saying? 00:22:04.160 --> 00:22:06.880 Like it is built into the fabric of who we are. 00:22:07.839 --> 00:22:16.960 And in theory, there is something empowering about saying we're gonna create a society where if you are willing to have a big dream and work really hard, you can make something out of yourself. 00:22:17.200 --> 00:22:22.000 Some people hear me preach and get after the American church, and they think that I'm like some anarchist. 00:22:22.160 --> 00:22:23.519 I'm proud to be an American. 00:22:23.759 --> 00:22:26.559 I could sing that whole song to you from memory right now. 00:22:26.799 --> 00:22:29.920 Like I thank God for the freedoms that we get to live in. 00:22:30.079 --> 00:22:33.839 I'm also just I'm also just trying to be biblically minded. 00:22:34.720 --> 00:22:43.200 That at one point the Roman Empire was so powerful that they said, the sun will never set on Rome. 00:22:44.160 --> 00:22:46.720 And then the message of Jesus came to Rome. 00:22:47.039 --> 00:22:48.960 You know what the message of Jesus was? 00:22:49.359 --> 00:22:54.160 Do not invest your life in Rome, an empire that will fade. 00:22:54.720 --> 00:22:56.799 Invest it in the kingdom of God. 00:22:57.920 --> 00:23:01.440 And so many people said Rome will never die. 00:23:02.960 --> 00:23:05.200 And now we're so arrogant. 00:23:05.680 --> 00:23:12.240 We go visit the ruins of Rome while we believe our little empire will stand forever. 00:23:12.799 --> 00:23:14.079 And it won't. 00:23:14.480 --> 00:23:19.119 Even if it lasts for another thousand years, it won't last forever. 00:23:19.440 --> 00:23:23.759 Only one kingdom lasts forever. 00:23:24.799 --> 00:23:43.759 And because we crave independence, when Jesus comes and goes, You don't know how to live, your best life is coming to a profound realization that the security your soul longs for is only an interdependence on Jesus. 00:23:44.640 --> 00:23:46.960 And so we have to humble ourselves. 00:23:47.119 --> 00:23:55.359 We're also a very affluent society, and yet our affluence is not keeping us from being the poor in spirit. 00:23:55.599 --> 00:23:59.279 We learned this last week when we looked at David in Psalm 86:1. 00:23:59.519 --> 00:24:03.039 King David writes, Listen, Lord, and answer me, for I am poor. 00:24:03.200 --> 00:24:05.200 David, no, you're not. 00:24:05.519 --> 00:24:06.880 You're the king. 00:24:07.119 --> 00:24:11.200 You are one of the richest human beings on planet Earth. 00:24:11.519 --> 00:24:16.960 You have thousands of soldiers, chariots, and horsemen at your beck and call. 00:24:17.200 --> 00:24:20.240 You live in a palace and you have untold riches. 00:24:20.480 --> 00:24:21.519 What does this mean? 00:24:21.680 --> 00:24:24.720 It means David understands what it means to be the poor in spirit. 00:24:24.880 --> 00:24:26.319 He is the potokos. 00:24:26.480 --> 00:24:35.119 He goes, Yes, I have all the money, and yes, I have men at my service, and yes, I have a kingdom, and yes, I live in a palace, and none of it can give me any security. 00:24:36.160 --> 00:24:38.799 He's just going to the Lord, going, It's just you. 00:24:39.519 --> 00:24:43.440 If I don't have you, I don't have anything. 00:24:43.839 --> 00:24:50.559 We look at it and go, I mean, you have a palace, you got lots of money. 00:24:51.519 --> 00:24:53.680 And it's because we don't know how to live. 00:24:54.000 --> 00:24:55.440 David's right. 00:24:56.720 --> 00:25:04.640 Surrounded by opulence, he comes to the Lord and goes, If I don't have you, I do not have anything, and he's right, we're wrong. 00:25:05.440 --> 00:25:11.359 The prophet Isaiah, uh, the very last chapter, he begins to summarize things. 00:25:11.759 --> 00:25:17.119 In Isaiah chapter 66, verse 2, it says this, this is the Lord's declaration. 00:25:17.359 --> 00:25:21.039 I will look favorably on this kind of person. 00:25:21.200 --> 00:25:22.240 Let me ask you a question. 00:25:22.400 --> 00:25:26.880 Do you want to be the kind of person that God looks favorably upon? 00:25:27.839 --> 00:25:29.680 Oh my gosh. 00:25:30.079 --> 00:25:34.240 I'm gonna ask again and remind you, God's listening right now. 00:25:34.559 --> 00:25:38.480 Do you want to be the kind of person that God looks favorably upon? 00:25:40.880 --> 00:25:43.759 God's gonna tell you, you want his favor? 00:25:44.240 --> 00:25:45.839 One who is humble, uh oh. 00:25:48.160 --> 00:25:51.759 One who is submissive in spirit, uh oh. 00:25:53.599 --> 00:25:56.319 One who trembles at his word, uh oh. 00:25:58.240 --> 00:26:04.799 We're like the most arrogant, prideful, narcissistic culture that has ever lived. 00:26:04.960 --> 00:26:06.640 We're the selfie culture. 00:26:06.880 --> 00:26:19.359 We look at ourselves in our phones, we take a hundred pictures, we edit the top three, we post the top one, and then we look back at that post ten times a day to see how many people have liked a picture of our own face. 00:26:21.359 --> 00:26:24.400 And God looks favorably upon the humble. 00:26:27.440 --> 00:26:33.680 Being submissive in spirit, we don't do that in our culture. 00:26:34.720 --> 00:26:37.359 We fight, we fight for our rights. 00:26:37.680 --> 00:26:39.759 We're American, no one can tell me what to do. 00:26:39.920 --> 00:26:41.039 It's like, okay. 00:26:41.440 --> 00:26:44.400 You want to know who God looks favorably upon? 00:26:44.720 --> 00:26:46.640 The submissive in spirit. 00:26:46.960 --> 00:26:53.920 Go on IG Live every day and just be humble and submissive in spirit, and you will have three likes, and two of them will be from your grandma. 00:26:55.119 --> 00:26:56.799 This is not what sells. 00:26:58.559 --> 00:27:03.759 God looks with favor upon those who tremble at his word, even Christians today in America. 00:27:03.920 --> 00:27:07.039 We do not tremble at his word, we argue with it. 00:27:07.839 --> 00:27:12.720 We come into his word and we go, oh man, I don't know about that one. 00:27:12.960 --> 00:27:14.559 The culture disagrees with that one. 00:27:14.720 --> 00:27:16.640 Oh, if I do that, I'll lose friends. 00:27:16.799 --> 00:27:19.359 If I'm open about this, I might I might get canceled. 00:27:19.440 --> 00:27:31.839 If I we we argue with the word, we don't stand in awe and tremble at his word, and no matter the cost, commit our life to it, because we think the blessed are those who are spoken well of by everyone. 00:27:32.000 --> 00:27:33.759 And Jesus says, You don't know how to live. 00:27:33.920 --> 00:27:41.920 The ones who are blessed are those who are excluded and insulted and slandered against because they tremble at the word of God. 00:27:45.279 --> 00:27:53.519 We are looking to be the poor in spirit, the potokos, but honestly, we want to make it our way. 00:27:53.759 --> 00:27:58.720 We want to create our own future, we want to be the captains of our own destiny. 00:27:58.880 --> 00:28:00.880 I know that temptation all too well. 00:28:01.039 --> 00:28:02.960 I lived it for a very long time. 00:28:03.920 --> 00:28:18.319 And what I can tell you is that when you come to the end of yourself, if you're humble enough, what you will find is that your best life is just totally surrendering and enslaving yourself to Jesus Christ. 00:28:19.599 --> 00:28:21.599 Whatever you want, I will do. 00:28:21.839 --> 00:28:23.599 Whatever you ask, I will give it. 00:28:23.759 --> 00:28:26.079 Wherever you lead, I will go. 00:28:27.920 --> 00:28:29.759 I'm just gonna say it again, man. 00:28:30.000 --> 00:28:36.799 This is so contrary to the American ethos that you are going to struggle with this. 00:28:37.839 --> 00:28:42.559 But if we trust his word, he's telling us there's a better way to live. 00:28:42.799 --> 00:28:43.839 Here's what I want to do today. 00:28:43.920 --> 00:28:45.839 I want to give you some examples out of scripture. 00:28:45.920 --> 00:28:57.519 I'm gonna give you one example from someone in my own life, and I want to help you start seeing people who are the potokos, who are the poor in spirit, who are not looking to the kingdoms of this world for their security, but only to God. 00:28:57.680 --> 00:28:59.440 I'm gonna start with Abraham. 00:28:59.599 --> 00:29:03.920 We're gonna look at what the author of Hebrews in the New Testament says about Abraham. 00:29:04.079 --> 00:29:06.000 We're gonna be in Hebrews chapter 11. 00:29:06.240 --> 00:29:07.359 We're gonna start in verse 8. 00:29:07.599 --> 00:29:18.559 Hebrews chapter 11, starting in verse 8, it says this by faith, Abraham, when he was called, obeyed and set out for a place that he was going to receive as an inheritance. 00:29:18.960 --> 00:29:23.359 He went out, even though he did not know where he was going. 00:29:23.519 --> 00:29:32.480 By faith, he stayed as a foreigner in the land of promise, living in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, co-heirs of the same promise. 00:29:32.640 --> 00:29:35.680 Let me give you a little bit of background on Abraham if you don't know it. 00:29:36.000 --> 00:29:40.559 I think we often picture Abraham as a young man when God calls him. 00:29:40.880 --> 00:29:42.960 Most scholars do not think that's true. 00:29:43.279 --> 00:29:52.960 Abraham was older, he was settled, he might have been as old as 70 years old, which for the 70-year-olds, I get it, is so young, but also for the sake of this conversation. 00:29:55.279 --> 00:30:00.000 If Abraham's 18, it's like every 18-year-old wants to leave the house. 00:30:00.559 --> 00:30:04.160 Abraham's 70, he's settled. 00:30:04.400 --> 00:30:07.440 Here's what we believe: his family was wealthy. 00:30:07.599 --> 00:30:12.400 They had land, they had homes, they had a lot to their name. 00:30:12.960 --> 00:30:16.000 Which means that Abraham was comfortable. 00:30:16.160 --> 00:30:22.000 Here's what we know Abraham's family were idolaters, they worshipped false gods, so did Abraham. 00:30:22.880 --> 00:30:26.480 This is his life when God shows up and calls him. 00:30:26.720 --> 00:30:30.559 And when he shows up and calls him, he goes, Abraham, I want you to follow me. 00:30:30.720 --> 00:30:33.599 I'll make your name great, I will turn you into a great nation. 00:30:33.759 --> 00:30:37.519 One day, all the nations of the world will be blessed through you. 00:30:37.599 --> 00:30:39.839 You'll be the patriarch of the world. 00:30:40.640 --> 00:30:43.440 And Abraham's like, awesome, where are we going? 00:30:43.519 --> 00:30:46.400 And God's like, I'm not telling. 00:30:48.799 --> 00:30:52.000 And for most of us, that would have been the deal breaker right there. 00:30:53.279 --> 00:30:55.119 But somehow he goes. 00:30:55.599 --> 00:31:01.279 And he becomes one of the five most influential humans to ever walk the earth, maybe top three. 00:31:01.519 --> 00:31:03.680 It's like Jesus, Paul, Abraham. 00:31:04.960 --> 00:31:06.880 That's what's on the line. 00:31:07.440 --> 00:31:12.799 He leaves behind wealth, comfort, security, family, religion, all of it. 00:31:13.279 --> 00:31:16.160 When the one true God comes and calls his name. 00:31:17.119 --> 00:31:20.000 I want to just offer a hypothetical. 00:31:21.599 --> 00:31:23.279 What if he would have said no? 00:31:25.119 --> 00:31:30.000 What if God came and was like, I want you to follow me, I'm not telling you where, but if you'll just trust me, I'll make you into a great nation? 00:31:30.240 --> 00:31:36.880 What if Abraham was just like, hey man, um, I don't know if you know, I'm like rich. 00:31:38.000 --> 00:31:39.680 I like won the game. 00:31:39.920 --> 00:31:47.119 I'm comfortable, I have a good relationship with my family, we have our rhythms, we've got homes, land, cattle. 00:31:47.440 --> 00:31:50.319 Like, I'm 70. 00:31:50.880 --> 00:31:51.839 I did it. 00:31:52.720 --> 00:31:55.759 What if Abraham was like, look at the scoreboard God? 00:31:56.160 --> 00:31:59.839 I did all the things everyone wants to do. 00:32:00.319 --> 00:32:01.440 So I appreciate it. 00:32:01.519 --> 00:32:03.599 I'm not your guy, I'm not going. 00:32:05.680 --> 00:32:10.000 The reality is, we just never would have known the name Abraham. 00:32:11.839 --> 00:32:18.400 He would have forfeited his destiny to be one of the three greatest men to ever walk the earth. 00:32:18.880 --> 00:32:20.480 And I just want to stop. 00:32:21.279 --> 00:32:25.759