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Suffering Service
30 Plays1 month ago
Mark 10:32-52
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Transcript
Understanding Spirituality Through Children's Perspectives
00:00:01
Speaker
Have you ever noticed that when it comes to the things of God, little kids just seem to get it?
00:00:09
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Nothing tells this truth better than this 2012 commercial that we have here.
Lessons from a 2012 Hershey's Commercial
00:00:18
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Take a piece of chocolate if you're the tallest.
00:00:21
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Take a piece of chocolate if you're better at eating your vegetables. Take a piece of chocolate if you love sharing.
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Cute commercial, y'all remember that just a few years back? it's It's marketing genius if you think about it, right? It's an ad for Hershey's Chocolate, but the message behind it is subtle, if if you know what you're but you're watching.
00:00:46
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Two girls, two approaches, two ways of seeing things. Do you want to be known as the tallest and the best? Or do you want to be known as the one who shares?
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The one who sacrifices for somebody else? It's subtle, but it's friends, it's profound.
Reflecting on Life Choices Through Commercials
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Take a piece of chocolate if you want to be the tallest.
00:01:15
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I do, I do. Take a piece of chocolate if you want to be the best. I do, I do. Hey, take a piece of chocolate if you want to sacrifice the one thing that you really want the most, that piece of Hershey's chocolate.
00:01:32
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right To which that i do I do, the hand kind of starts going down. I love if you just pause it. I paused this and I took a screenshot of these two girls' faces. Look look at their faces. right Who wants to share?
00:01:48
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ah you got those two faces, right?
00:01:52
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Aren't we all like that? Who wants to be the tallest? I do. Who wants to achieve greatness? I do. Who wants to do it God's way?
00:02:04
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And then there's this pause, right? That one girl on the right, she pauses thinking,
00:02:11
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you got to love it. But she does what the most unlikely thing is. She's the one who wants to be known as the one who shares. And she gives that one thing that they're desiring the most, that piece of chocolate, and she hands it to her sister.
Teachings from Mark Chapter 10 on Sacrificial Service
00:02:28
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By the way, those two girls are sisters.
00:02:33
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I thought this week this video captured kind of the essence of what we're going to see today, this idea of sacrificial giving or sacrificial service to one another. and that is And I want to start today just by saying we all want what these two girls our picture here We all want to achieve great things. We all want to say, i do, I do.
00:02:54
Speaker
But when God says, this is the way I need you to do that, many of us fall short of like saying, this is what it takes. This is what I'm willing to do. Friends, this is what we're to look at the end as we close out Mark chapter 10 today.
00:03:07
Speaker
I know the last three weeks we've been in 10. Somebody asked me last week, when are we getting to ah chapter 11? Well, next week. So today we're wrapping it up. Chapter 10, if you will, turn with me.
00:03:19
Speaker
ah Chapter 10 is the culmination, if you will, this third passion prediction that Jesus gives to his disciples. Remember, he's already told them twice up to this point.
00:03:32
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This is what the Son of Man is going to endure. He's going to and endure suffering, and he's going to go to Jerusalem, and this is where he's going to be put to death. This third prediction is the most detailed of those. It's the third, the final, and probably the most climactic, if you will, where Jesus says, not only am I going to be taken to Jerusalem, I'm going to Jerusalem where I will be killed, but it's the chief priests and the scribes who are going to condemn me.
00:04:01
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And it's the Romans who are going to actually carry that out and kill me. And we find the reason for Jesus' death is is told here as well. And it's right in the middle of this story, sandwiched between the prediction and this pronouncement of Jesus' death, we have this story of the disciples, once again, jockeying for position.
00:04:23
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right It's this idea of, hey, Lord, I know what you're getting ready to go through, but before we get there, there a place of prominence for me?
00:04:36
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so I just want us, as we read this today, think about before we're real quick to judge these two characters, James and John, the sons of Zebedee, before we're quick to judge them, you and i could be these guys.
00:04:49
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Look with me here, starting in verse 32. Verse 32 says, They were now on the way up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was walking ahead of them. The disciples were filled with awe, and the people following behind were overwhelmed with fear.
00:05:05
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Taking the twelve disciples aside, Jesus once more began to describe everything that was about to happen to him. Listen, he said, we're going up to Jerusalem where the Son of Man will be betrayed to the leading priests and the teachers of the religious law.
00:05:20
Speaker
They will sentence him to die and hand him over to the Romans. The Romans will mock him and spit on him and flog him and whip him and they will kill him. But after three days, he will rise again.
Misunderstanding Greatness in the Kingdom of Jesus
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Verse 35 now says, then...
00:05:36
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James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came over and spoke to him. Teacher, they said, we we want you to do a favor for us. To which Jesus says, what is your request? Verse 37, they replied, when you sit on your glorious throne, we want to sit in places of honor next to you.
00:05:54
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One on your right and the other on your left. But Jesus said to them, you do not know what you're asking. Are you able to drink from the bitter cup of suffering that I am about to drink?
00:06:06
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Are you able to be baptized with the baptism of suffering that I must be baptized with? Oh yes, they replied. We are able. And Jesus told them, You will indeed drink from my bitter cup and be baptized with my baptism of suffering.
00:06:24
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But I have no right to say who will sit on my right or on my left. God has prepared those places for the ones he has chosen. And you got to love verse 41. When the ten other disciples heard what James and John had asked, they were indignant. right How dare they?
00:06:44
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How dare those two come up to Jesus and ask for a place of prominence? Why didn't we think of that?
00:06:55
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We're told here, verse 32, friends, that they're on the way. We see the same choice of words used all throughout Mark's gospel about this discipleship journey of being on the way, going to Jerusalem. It's this picture, if you will, of following closely with Jesus being at the head. That's why he says here Jesus was the one leading. He was out front.
00:07:20
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But it's interesting because it says the disciples were in awe and the people were following him were overwhelmed with fear.
Challenges and Costs of True Discipleship
00:07:26
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right They're overwhelmed with fear because Jesus is going to the very place where he says he's going to be put to death. it's a It's a picture of him willingly and volunteering voluntarily going to a place of danger.
00:07:43
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And if I'm following Jesus at this time, I'm probably thinking to myself, hey, if I follow him there, danger is right around the corner for me too. This is what they're no doubt thinking.
00:07:55
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But it's interesting because Jesus says it's against this backdrop of heading into Jerusalem where no doubt there's this danger right at the very cusp. He says for a third time, listen.
00:08:08
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In the picture here, friends, in verse 33 is this close gathering of his disciples. Hey, these 12, hey, come here real quick. I want to tell you something intimate. Gather around me.
00:08:20
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And he says, we're going to Jerusalem where the Son of Man will be betrayed. He's going to handed over to the priests and the scribes. They'll hand him over and the sentence will be from the Romans the Romans will mock him and spit him and flog him and whip him and kill him.
00:08:36
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But after three days he will rise again. And I think to myself, in the midst of this, if I'm a disciple and I'm literally huddled up with Jesus as he's telling me this for a third time, I'm probably going to be really intrigued about more details.
00:08:53
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Hey, Jesus, give me more details. But we're told right then, right then, interruption, James and John show up on the picture. What do these two characters say?
00:09:05
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You've got to love them. Hey, let me ask you something, Jesus. can you can you Can you answer something for me? Where's our positions of prominence going to be when you go into glory?
00:09:19
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Wait a second. I was just telling you, I'm be be on, I'm going to be crucified.
00:09:30
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And you're worried about what? Power position. I thought to myself as I read this account, as I have many times, how are we like these two sometimes?
00:09:44
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Hey Jesus, what's in it for me?
00:09:48
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but the The path of discipleship, I just kept going over and over back to this all week long, is about us following him. Not about what he's doing for us.
00:10:00
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You ever realize that? I was listening to a pastor this week and he said oh about a complaining congregation. It's not you guys, don't worry. It's his own congregation. But he made a really good point. He said, if you're complaining constantly about what the church has done for you, you've missed the point of church.
00:10:19
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The point of church is to come and serve and to worship. And quite often, I think we can get like these two fellows, these sons of Zebedee, hey, what's in it for us?
00:10:31
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and they've And they've missed the mark of what it looks like to be a disciple. The key here is accepting this mission that Jesus has laid out as one of sacrifice and suffering and service to others, to which i like the other ten when they hear what's going on.
00:10:49
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you know it's this Indignant is this. how How dare they? Why are they indignant? Because they wish they would have been the ones asking for that position.
00:11:00
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They got beat out by John and James. Jesus says, hey, are you willing to go through what I'm getting ready to go through? You're willing to drink the cup of suffering? And in the shocking part is they go, yeah, we are.
00:11:15
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You bet we are.
00:11:18
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i don't know, I'll just put down as ah as a side note in my Bible, I just put, really? With a question mark. How quick you are to answer that. To which Jesus does say, well... Indeed, you will, you will, meaning James and John, you too will drink from this bitter cup, and you will be baptized with the baptism of suffering.
00:11:40
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The disciples and those following Jesus and the whole culture really at this point, and in friends, it's no different today, and this is why i bring this up.
00:11:50
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to follow Jesus is radically different it looks counter-cultural and if you think about it how these two are looking at it Jesus we think what the Messiah is gonna do is he's gonna come in and he's gonna overthrow the Romans and as Jewish people we're gonna finally be in power and we're gonna start telling everybody else what to do Jesus is uh-uh matter of fact that I'm gonna turn that up on its head if you want to be great in my kingdom you're gonna do it completely different
00:12:21
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It's not going to be about sitting to my left and right. Which, by the way, who were the other two people that were sitting to the left and right of Jesus? On the cross. I'll let you ball that over during potluck.
00:12:34
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And these two here are saying, Lord, Lord, when can we be on your left and right? Who were those two on the left and right? They were thieves.
00:12:43
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Pass me the chicken today as you're sitting down. Talk to your people at your table.
00:12:50
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Following Jesus is counter-cultural. What do I mean by that? It means that you will do life differently than what the culture will do. You will emphasize things that the culture doesn't emphasize. one One way that you're demonstrating that right now and you don't even know it is simply by you being here on a Sunday morning when the sun is out and everybody else is not here.
00:13:15
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They are out enjoying the sun, not worshiping the Lord, not giving the Bible its due recognition one day out of the week, right?
00:13:28
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Friends, you guys are living, walking proof right now of what it means to be a disciple. You're living counter-culturally. How do I know this? Because quite often you're at work, whether you're a teacher or you're a plumber or you're a technician, and you're going to work side by side with people who don't hold the same values that you do.
00:13:48
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And they're going to jockeying for position in this world. Let me know how I can be great. How can I be the best teacher? How can I be the best engineer? Would I need to cheat and lie or step on somebody else on the way up that corporate ladder?
00:14:04
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To which Jesus says, well, it's different in my kingdom. What does that look like in Jesus' kingdom?
Service as the Path to Greatness in Jesus' Kingdom
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Well, let's read verse 33. I want emphasize just a few things here. He huddles up his disciples and he says, if you really want to follow me and you want to be great in my kingdom, it's going to start out and look like this. Pay real close attention.
00:14:24
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It's going to start with you being betrayed.
00:14:28
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You're going to be mocked, spat on, flawed, whipped, possibly even killed. right It's this picture, this life of suffering.
00:14:40
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I always joke, if if you ever see the best advertisement it could be for a church, how would you like that? Join First Baptist Church. Come Sunday, we love to suffer. How many people would be in for that?
00:14:52
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That would be a horrible marketing campaign. But boy, isn't it the truth?
00:15:00
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It's not suffering for the sake of suffering. I want you to understand that. It's it's not, hey, I'm going to join ah a movement, a Christian movement, and and suffering is part and parcel with that movement.
00:15:11
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And boy, I'm just going to suck it up and and and it really enjoy suffering. No, God's doing something with that suffering that you're going through.
00:15:21
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But it is indeed the true model of greatness is here pictured in suffering. It's by the way, counter-cultural in that it's the opposite of what the health and wealth gospel preachers are telling you on TV.
00:15:38
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Jesus wants you to be what? Rich and healthy and prosperous.
00:15:47
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That's a horrible distortion of God's word by the way.
00:15:51
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Counter-cultural, Jesus says you want to be first. It's not about being the richest. Matter of fact, it's about serving the poor. You to be great in my kingdom? You're not going to be the CEO, you're going to be the servant.
00:16:04
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Or the slave, your translation may see here just a few seconds.
00:16:11
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The true path of following Jesus is a difficult one because he lays it out for all the disciples, but also for you and I saying, it the true path here is going to involve suffering.
00:16:24
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The cup that I drink, you shall drink, and you shall be baptized with the baptism in which I have been baptized. And then he goes on to describe, not only is it going to involve suffering, but it's also going to involve sacrificial service.
00:16:36
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Look with me here, verse 42. Verse 42, he says, So Jesus called them together. This is after the other 12 were indignant. And he calls them together and he says, You know that the rulers of this war world lorded over their people.
00:16:51
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And the officials flaunt their authority over those under them. But among you it will be different. Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant. And whoever wants to be first among you must be the slave of everyone else. For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve.
00:17:13
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And to give his life as a ransom for many.
The Ultimate Model of Sacrificial Service
00:17:17
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What does it mean to be ah a follower of Christ? It means that there will be suffering. And it means that you're going to want that piece of chocolate, but you're willing to sacrifice it for your brother or sister.
00:17:31
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That's why I think that whether not Hershey's was smart enough to know what they were doing when they came out with that commercial, I don't know. But it's It's true on so many different levels. Jesus paints this picture for us here, friends. There's two ways, two approaches. There's either the world's approach in which you're going to lord it over or you're going to rule over them.
00:17:52
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You're going to exercise your authority. But he says that's one way. That's the world's way. You won't do that if you are a Christ follower. You will, on the other hand, do it the kingdom way. and The kingdom way says you really want to be great, you're going to be a servant.
00:18:06
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You're going to be a slave.
00:18:10
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And whoever wants to be the first among you must be a slave to everyone else. Not just be a servant to some, to a servant to all. You ever thought about that? when you When you're living your daily life and you're going about your business, as a Christian, your call is not just one of suffering, but of sacrificial service in all areas.
00:18:29
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In all areas of your life.
00:18:34
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He says here,
00:18:37
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You must be a servant. This is diakonos. This is really where we get our word for deacon. You want to be great in the God's economy? You better be a deacon. You better show up and serve.
00:18:49
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Some of the worst pictures in the Christian evangelical church is a church run by its deacons. Can I tell you that? It is a wrong, unbiblical model. The deacons serve.
00:19:00
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They're not running. They're serving. But how great is that to have a servant leader where guys just show up and they just serve? It's a picture of what you and I should do. And he says the ultimate picture of love, the ultimate picture of self-sacrifice here is in verse 45. And if you're somebody who underlines or highlights or circles, verse 45 is your verse.
00:19:24
Speaker
For even the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve. and to give his life for a ransom, right? This act ultimate act of self-sacrifice for one another. A true servant leader, the son of man's sacrificial death, this this ransom word, this paying a price, this is ah ah paying the price of release that is often associated with a slave.
00:19:47
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He's paid the price. He's paid for your release. He's redeemed you. He's liberated you from oppression. He set you free. He's rescued you. This is the ultimate picture of what Jesus has done for you and I. It's this ultimate model of greatness pictured here.
00:20:04
Speaker
That he's saying, if you want to follow me, you need to do it this way. this is This is the way I want you to do it. So what do we do with this passage here this morning? How do we apply this to your life and my life today?
Applying Teachings on Sacrificial Living in Daily Life
00:20:18
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It's one thing to understand what God's word says, right? To exposit the text to exegete to pull out the biblical truths. But if we simply stop there, it's a history lesson.
00:20:31
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Right? What we need to do is take this truth and say, how do we apply it to your life and my life today? and and i And I put, as I read this, I was simultaneously working through the Gospel of Matthew this week, just on something completely different.
00:20:46
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But Matthew 5, I landed on, and you guys know this verse in verse 13 and 14. Jesus says, you are the salt of the earth, you are the light of the world. You know what he doesn't say?
00:20:57
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Go out and be salt. Go out and be light. He says, you are already salt and light. So go, you know, go salt things up.
00:21:08
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Go light things up. it's It's a matter of essence. You are already a believer, therefore, these things are indicative of who you are. You're salty, so go out and salt. You're light, go out and be light. So I want us to understand the same mentality because when it comes to application, quite frankly, sometimes we can be in church and have this do mentality.
00:21:31
Speaker
Alright, pastor read a couple of great verses. Let me go out and do something this week and feel better about myself. I know none of y'all have ever thought that. right Rather, the point of today's passage is you are already this way.
00:21:46
Speaker
If you are a follower Christ, if you are a disciple of Christ, your life is one that should, to some degree, display sacrificial service. It's part and parcel of who you are. You can't be a Christian and not Be a servant.
00:22:02
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you it It just doesn't work that way.
00:22:05
Speaker
So I put this week as your homework, as my homework, as we step out this week, let me encourage you to live a life of sacrificial service. What does that look like? Well, maybe it is if you really love that chocolate, you're giving up that piece of chocolate for your brother or sister in the most simplistic picture that we had in that video.
00:22:25
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Maybe it's stepping outside of the normal pattern of life and the way you respond to your spouse, and maybe you do it in a more loving and compassionate way.
00:22:38
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Hey, honey, let me do the laundry of this week. Let me cut the grass this week. Let me fold the lawn. all the husbands are looking at their wives right now. Or maybe it's at your job that you go up to somebody that you work with that you know is an unbeliever and you You do something for them that shows them, a that they're important, and B, it's something that you're sacrificing for them.
00:23:04
Speaker
Hey, maybe it's your time, maybe it's your talent, maybe it's hate money, maybe it's some somebody you know is really in need of money. you You can do that as well. what What I want to challenge you with this week is to be known as somebody who shares, somebody who sacrifices, right? To be known means it's it's not a ah one-time thing.
00:23:26
Speaker
It's you're characterized by it. You are known as, um just I was talking to somebody just the other day, ah many of you know the Cobb family if you've grown up from this area. Right? You all know the Cobbs.
00:23:39
Speaker
Every person that I have ever met, when I mention the Cobb family, tell me one thing. You want to what that is Those people are the salt of the earth. Those are good people. Those are humble people.
00:23:52
Speaker
You know what that means? That means they weren't humble or good once or twice. That means the the length of their life, they are characterized as that type of person.
00:24:03
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Salt of the earth. How would you love that description? Hey, that that Kathy, and I can just say Kathy because there's five or six or seven of you right now. I'm not picking on anybody. How would you love that?
00:24:16
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Man, Kathy, she is just a giver. She gives her time. she at Whatever was going on with her, she stops everything and just gives, pours into you. How would you love that? To be known as.
00:24:32
Speaker
May we be a people this week that simply follows the model that Jesus has laid out for us. Accepting his mission, living a life of sacrificial service to somebody outside these walls. Amen.