Men's Faith and Leadership Discussion

Speaker 1 0:30

All right , yeah , thank you . So 78 Baptism is super awesome . One other announcement I wanted to give you , and there's some really fun things we're going to do . Today is this Friday . If you're a guy , there's this thing we're doing called Guys and Grills . I think they're giving away bacon today , because I don't know why that means Like , yeah , dudes and bacon , whatever , bacon whatever . But we're doing it on Friday night and I wanted to kind of put this together and bring some people in . Specifically , we're talking about guys , just so you know , because it's a Friday night .

Speaker 1 0:59

I wanted to bring value to you is I've invited somebody from our church who is a fire chief and he's going to come and share , and then also a gentleman named Brian Kim . He's a follower of Jesus and he's just got elected as a Solano County judge , and what we're going to talk about is like faith in the workplace . Like you have your own garden , you have your own place in which you take care of and the gifts that you use for your workplace . But what does that look like in managing that tension of like who I am and what I produce in my work , and then who I am and what I produce in my faith in me and what that looks like , and so we're just going to talk about that as men and as leaders and as spiritual beings and connecting to Jesus in that way . So we'd love for you to come to just like wrestle with that idea with us . We're really hoping you get to walk away with some takeaways and some permission and maybe getting rid of some stigmas in there and even some challenges , and then still be some food involved so you can sign up for that . I think it's called Guys and Grills . That's this Friday . Why don't you be a part of that , men ? Let's show up and hang out together . It'd be good . So if you're with us online , so glad that you're here with us .

Speaker 1 2:11

We're in the midst of this series on the book of Matthew , the gospel according to Matthew , which is the disciple of Jesus . We get to learn about the life of Jesus and understand it from this first century perspective , and then we , as 21st century followers or potential followers of Jesus , get to learn about what he's like , who he likes , how he talks , how he acts , and we've been doing this . If you've been here for any length of time . We've been doing this now for three years . We've been doing this now for three years We've been walking through and some of you are like , oh my gosh , is there any other biblical book that we could go through at some point in our history ? Yes , at some point we will , but we're only on chapter 20 , and there's 28 chapters . So welcome today to chapter 20 .

Speaker 1 2:50

We are gonna go a little faster . It actually makes it goes much faster . It's gonna start picking up speed because we're getting into like the garden moment and stuff , and then we do other things , like we're going to pause . So one of the things that we're going to be doing is we're going to pause for a quarter of this year for our summer months . Over three months we're going to pause . We're going to do . Something that I think is so important is we're kind of cracking that open and trying to become a safe place to have it to start some of these conversations that really would be important if we had . So there's more to come on that in the future .

Speaker 1 3:35

But two weeks ago , just before Easter , we left and we hit this story about this mother coming to Jesus with her two sons and saying like hey , can you have my son sit at your right and your left Side by side when your kingdom comes , when you have your kingdom , and he says to her you don't know what you're asking . And then they say well , we can do it . And so I want to again , just as we're catching back up into the story , read his response , or his answer to them , and then we'll get to the second part of the story . It's in verse 23 of chapter 20 . Jesus said to them you will indeed drink from my cup , but to sit at my right or left is not for me to grant .

Speaker 1 4:19

These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared by my Father . So , right here , what you have is what theologians call the Trinitarian theology , which is that there is God and he is one . He is one God , but he's eternally distinct between Father , which is what Jesus meant when he's referring to him in verse 23 , that he's saying it's been prepared by my Father , and you have this Trinitarian group , which is Father , son and Holy Spirit . Think of it this way the Father plans out salvation , holy Spirit . Think of it this way the Father plans out salvation , the Son accomplishes salvation and the Spirit applies salvation , and they've been like that for eternity past . And so he brings into this conversation again with the disciples , the Father , and talks about the Father to the disciples and says there's this authority where the Son's actually serving the father in his plan . And he's going to be this really important aspect to this because of what he transitions to , because he's going to lay then out what he's been doing and saying . This is what this looks like between me and the father and laying out this plan , and now I'm going to lay out the exact same thing before you and me that we get to understand that , in the same way that the son is subservient to the father , that the posture of human beings cannot be leaders but to be servants . And so that's literally what he's about to tell them , which is going to hit us . It hits us Because we like the idea of being like influencers . We got tribes underneath us and we're the ones who need to and want to lead everybody and we have something to say to everyone . And Jesus comes in and he , like , challenges us , says hey , you wanna know where true greatness is ? You wanna know where the power of the church is actually going to come from ? It's going to come when the church starts to recognize that it must relate to the world as servants of the world . That's where it's going to get all of its credibility .

Speaker 1 6:30

Reading the verses for today , it says then , when the ten heard about this , they were indignant with the two brothers . Jesus called them together and said you know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord over them and their high officials exercise authority over them . 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 . So now , just to chop up today's verses , go back to verse 24 . When the 10 heard about this , they were indignant with the two brothers .

Speaker 1 7:23

I think one of the greatest and most powerful emotions that we feel is indignation . We feel angry , right . And so now you see here the other 10 disciples . They're like jacked up all of a sudden and angry , which is totally natural for you and I . And Jesus is going to talk about here the answer to anger or indignation in your life , and the answer is the gospel . And some of you actually need to hear this right now , because in your marriage , anger is the thing that's destroying you In your workplaces . Anger is the thing that's undermining and destroying the work that you're trying to participate in . What we've got to understand is that the gospel is the solution to your anger . This is why Jesus ends this passage .

Speaker 1 8:07

At the end of this passage says even the Son of man came not to be served , but to serve and to give his life as ransom for many . This is where Jesus substituted himself to ransom us out of slavery . He went to the cross , he died our death , he rose again , and all of that is the answer to ignitation that we have in our life . It's communion . We just actually did it . We ate the story reminding us that God loves us and he has covered us as an atoning sacrifice for the things that are broken in this world and in us that we're angry about . Here's another reason why we're angry , indignated and angry .

Speaker 1 8:52

The mother in this story , we know , is Salome . We know this from the gospel of Mark and the gospel of Luke . Talk about the story . And Salome here's your kind of your Bible geek stuff is actually Jesus's mother's sister . They're related . So literally , what we're dealing with here is Jesus' cousins . So like , literally , this feels like a family thing . You know what I'm saying . Like Jesus , when you come into your kingdom , remember , like we're family , like we're cousins , we're related , we need like little special treatment . And so the other 10 are jacked up about that . They're like whoa , whoa , whoa , like they don't like it . They're saying like whoa , whoa , whoa , like they don't like it . They're saying like wait , hey , I thought we're all part of one family . And they're going like meh , like we wanna pull the cousin card right Now .

Speaker 1 9:44

Honestly , I think there's actually even another layer and level to this and their anger is actually coming from a place that they kind of wish , that they thought of it themselves , like have you been there ? Like you're like , oh , I wish I had done that first . Right , they kind of like wish they had gone . Like hey , just like a side conversation , I would love to have the right or left in the kingdom . I would love to have a throne . You know why didn't I get to Jesus quicker and ask him for a throne ? Because I want rulership and I want the praise of people . I want recognition . I want everybody to praise me and encourage me and recognize all my hard work and , underneath everything , you and I are like that , like we want recognition , we want praise and there is constantly in our spiritual life this crazy mixed up mixture of motives , if you will . There's , like this , pure gospel , holy Spirit driven motive to do stuff , but then all mixed in and messed up with it is this messed up , narcissistic , selfish motivations , and sometimes it's really hard to pry those two things from each other

Embracing Servanthood in the Kingdom

Speaker 1 10:57

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Speaker 1 10:58

So here's what he says . He called them together . He said you know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord over them and their high officials exercise authority over them . So there is the people of God and there's a people that are outside of the people of God and they're called the Gentiles . And he says you know that the rulers of the Gentiles , they lord over them . The people who rule , they lord over them . And if you want influence , we understand . If you want influence to have any kind of effect in your life , if you want true greatness in your life , then according to the unbiblical version , then you lord it over people . You have to take authority over people . The great ones , the high officials , exercise authority over people . We get this . But then he says this not so with you . So the world does it this way and my people do it that way . See , this is the crossroads for us . For many of us just sitting here right now , it's like there's this way to have success and power and influence in the world . There's this way to have success and power , and then the kingdom and those two things don't really meet together . And the temptation for all of us is that we want both of those things . We want powerful and we wanna be successful in a worldly definition , but then also we wanna somehow depend on the grace and the forgiveness of God that there might be something that we did right . And so here he says there are two kinds of things there's people who lord over it and there's people who exercise authority . And have you noticed what's missing ? It's the third way , the third way which he's introducing to us Now .

Speaker 1 12:54

We don't tend to rave about stuff that's successful in a kingdom through like a kingdom filter . When you're having conversations or interactions with other , you're not usually raving about the kingdom successes around you . We tend to rave about the stuff that we find successful through a worldly filter . I mean , think about it like how you discuss things or even what we were taught . You know , oh man , did you hear about that guy that sold that company for $100 million ? Or those people who live in like this million dollar house , or they drive this , or she does that , or look at this promotion , or look at the things and the influence they have . And we're talking about success all the time , and influence and power and money . But we're doing it just as the Gentiles do . We're evaluating in the way that the world does , and it's just so easy to do that , to just define greatness through this shallow lens . And the thing is is that we've defined it like that our whole lives . It's really what we've , you know , been groomed to do and so it's really difficult to think any differently .

Speaker 1 13:58

And Jesus goes hold on . What are you doing , guys ? We got to have like this conversation , like let's sit down for a second . You're evaluating greatness wrong . And he starts again to define this upside down kingdom , where he literally inverts the pyramid . See , like we tend to think of the pyramid and it's all the most successful people on the top , with the money and the influence and all this stuff , and then you kind of have this lower level of people at the bottom where they're just not really interested in them and who they are and what's going on .

Speaker 1 14:34

And what he does is he flips that upside down and goes no , no , no , no . Look at what he says . Not so with you . Instead , whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant . Now notice , he's not saying greatness is a bad thing . He's not saying you shouldn't try to be great , be great , but be great in a different way . 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 . The influence of our life must come as we posture ourselves to the world , not as leader but as servant . We're doing a service this afternoon for a great man , a very influential man in many lives of people . This afternoon he had so much influence , not as leader , but as servant .

Speaker 1 15:45

How many of us in this room have made the choice that some of you need to maybe even make today ? That servant is your centralized identity Servant of the world , not judge of the world . Servant of it , slave of it . This is a fascinating thing . For you and I who have money or social power , who dress well , who eat three square meals a day , it's very interesting for Jesus to just come out of the gate and go like your core identity must be servant , slave .

Speaker 1 16:19

Now I just want to recognize that there are some of my friends in this room that are black and brown that this type of statement being like I don't even like that you're saying this stuff . This has got to be in some other type of context . And then there's another group of people in this room being like I have no real connection to what that even means servant slave . You know , it sounds nice like a server at a restaurant . That is not at all what it is . It is , in fact , actually speaking very clearly into what was going on that modern day , with the weightiness that I cannot remove from the Scripture of that of a servant enslaved to something . So I recognize that sometimes we're like well , how do we even walk past this ? This is like just slammed me . But yet I don't want the other group of people in this room to miss this context , to go like I don't even understand this , I don't even understand , like I'm a CEO or like I'm the one in control of stuff , and he goes no , no , no , no . You know where your credibility comes from . It's going to come from servant . Here's what I mean . Think about this .

Speaker 1 17:27

Remember all those stories that we've read , and this has been for years from that group , westboro Baptist Church , picketing like funerals and concerts of people that they didn't like , that were coming into town , et cetera . I was reading one of those stories about another church that heard about this concert that was going to . They were going to be going to and picketing at all the people who were showing up . You know , hey , you're all going to hell because you're listening to this music or this person and this other church . Then what they did is they went out and they made a whole bunch of hot chocolate for all the people who were standing waiting in line to get to this concert . It was February , it was in Kansas City , it was in the cold . Not judge and jury . Servant . Which church do you think had more credibility and power ? The church is here to be servants and serve the people out of love and grace , and this is where the power is going to come from . This is where your credibility is going to come from when you become servant of your neighbor , of the city that we exist in , of the communities that we exist in .

Speaker 1 18:30

I love this book . It's called Creating Magic , which is about the Disney philosophy . Right , like the company . Like what company in the world is better at hospitality than Disney . Like that's literally all they train for is just to be servants of everyone in there to be fun . Like they even have the rules of like we want people to throw their trash on the ground , like cause we're just gonna pick it up . Like we would just want it to be like , yes , we are serving you , we are there , right . I think the church needs to be better than Disney at hospitality , at serving people , because , like that's our main posture . This is what he's telling us . Jesus is about to go wash people's feet .

Speaker 1 19:09

I would ask you , is that what you think about when you come to church ? How can I serve the people who gathered here today ? Not like , oh man , well , what jerk took my parking spot ? Like that was my spot . Like I'm four spots in All the time , right ? Or like when you come in here and the chairs have been shipped around , I'm like , come on , sign seating , right . I had to like find a whole new spot , right . There's a game where it's just a constant life of serving , where you start to like your brain literally starts to get wired in a way to where you can actually start to see yourself as servant , and I actually think that's part of the issue is because you and I , we see ourselves as something better than a servant , and you shouldn't .

Call to Serve and Transform

Speaker 1 20:02

Oswald Sanders wrote a book called Spiritual Leadership . Here's what he said the ax cannot boast of the trees it has cut down . It could do nothing apart from the woodsman . He made it , he sharpened it and he used it , and the moment he throws it aside , it only becomes old iron . Oh that I may never lose sight of this , that you and I may never lose sight of the idea . What are we without a master or nothing Servant ? He came not to be served , but to serve . We get to learn that posture from Jesus and respond in that very same way . We've all been given gifts . You guys are good at many , many , many things .

Speaker 2 20:55

You're good at many things that I'm not good at .

Speaker 1 20:57

There's a few things that I might be a little bit better than you at . We've all been given gifts and been invited into using them , and there's some things that I can't do that you can do . But when we all collectively come together to serve others and for the good and then we learn by serving what this posture looks like , it begins to change us . It transforms us . You know , at the end of the service usually we have somebody come out here and like play music and stuff like that . I can do some things , but I can't do everything . I can only play all black . I literally don't know how to play the piano . So I can come up here and talk , but like I can't do everything , it's really hard for me actually to like talk and play at the same time . I don't know how they do that . I can't do this stuff . Actually , I need some professional . Aaron , I need you . Please come out here . And I got you . Yeah , thank you .

Speaker 2 21:43

Let's do it , let's make it happen .

Speaker 1 21:45

Actually , can I do that for you ? Yeah , I can't sing and play , but I can . You can . You don't want to ?

Speaker 2 21:54

I can sing . Let me tell you that , right now , two-man band , two-man band , you give me yeah , we need like a beat or something with this .

Speaker 1 22:00

I got you , but we can't do the rhythm's a little off but that's okay , we'll get you together .

Speaker 2 22:08

Look it , I'm the keys , I'm the key man .

Speaker 1 22:09

I think we grow a mullet . I decided you should .

Speaker 2 22:13

I don't even know what that is . Business in the front party , in the back you ready , here we go . Yeah , how great is . That's the wrong key . Sing with me , how great is .

Speaker 1 22:28

You can't do everything either . How about you ?

Speaker 1 22:30

Let's switch , let's do this part , but if you're over there singing and playing on the drums , who's going to do the electric guitar or the bass ? There's a whole bunch of other things that have to happen around here because I can only do like my part . I can't do everything like without Zach and his team . We're looking over here like , yeah , you can play . Right now I'm going to go actually check out because we need different slides up that aren't even working now . Like there's no way to click a slide over .

Speaker 2 22:56

Yeah , Our camera's on the wrong thing too . We actually need somebody to do that as well . That'd be great if someone could . Yeah , because this we need . Lawrence , can you get on that for me ? Thank you , perfect , thank you , thank you , I need that , okay , so clearly , as Larry's been saying , we need yeah , they keep having kids , so I need somebody to go back there and help figure that out , because we need that . We need that . The whole point of this conversation is it's not enough to just show up and check a box , that you came to church and ultimately , we're transformed . God does something fresh and new in our hearts when we take the posture of serving . As he said , he came not to be served , but to serve . We need somebody on coffee , too . We forgot that . Yeah , okay , the British is coming . The British is coming . The British is coming .

Speaker 1 24:04

Somebody was angry because there was no more free coffee , because no one's there to make coffee . Yeah , and they're like where's the coffee ? Where's the free coffee ? There's no one there filling up coffee . Look , I can't do everything , okay , everyone . But we together can come and do something and serve all of those who are here that come here and be the church that sees and cares for someone . And you have gifts and you can do something . You don't have to do everything , but we can do something and it changes us .

Speaker 1 24:42

It says in verse 28 , just as the son of man did not come to be served my goodness , who should be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many . We just celebrated resurrection Sunday last week , and after the resurrection there was only two things that happened . Jesus went and reconciled a relationship and then said , hey , there is work to be done , and he gave an invitation in which to do it . You know a fun thing that we do here when you become a member , you go through our Engage class that we have . You become a member . At the end of going through the class , we actually give a hand tell out . It says Changemaker . Because we say , hey , guess what ? Now ? You get to go wash feet . You get to go be Jesus to people and go serve them , and we get to remember that that's what we're given Now go wash feet .

Speaker 1 25:40

So I actually want to invite all of you today to be like feet washers , but like not literally , but like metaphorically . Some of you guys are panicking , like me . You're gonna have a couple moments today where , ending early on purpose , our kids are gonna stay in the kids area . We actually are inviting all of you to go out to our Changemaker Fair and to go around and to explore and say what is there ? What gifts do I have ? What do I want to connect to in this next season where I can participate and serve and be transformed in that way and , frankly , let a large community of Rose turn more into circles where you make friends and have fun as you're following Jesus and understanding that .

Speaker 1 26:21

So , just a few moments . We're not even going to end with a song . We're gonna go out there you can kind of learn about some of those different things . There's actually a little like ping pong ball that , when you've decided to say yes , there's like a big bucket to throw it into and hit the yes button so we can celebrate those who have made those decisions , and then we're gonna try to give you tools and get connected to these communities . We wanna be these communities . We want to be able to do that .

Speaker 1 26:51

But before I dismiss you to go out there , I'm going to actually ask all of you to stand up . If you're in here today and I don't want to pass this up and Jesus is getting a hold of your heart through his spirit and the sacrifice that he made , and your next step is like I'm ready to actually surrender my life up to the one who surrendered for me everything . We have a little nook called this Changes Everything . Or , if you're with us online , you can connect with us . We got a journal we'd love to give you . We'd like to talk to you about what it looks like to take first steps towards and in faith with Jesus . I don't wanna pass that up in this moment as well . So , if that's you , we would love to come alongside of you , support you . We would love to come alongside of you , support you , give you tools . It's called

Sending Off With Blessings

Speaker 1 27:26

this Changes Everything .

Speaker 1 27:27

Go out there . If there's somebody next to you or you need to ask them , they can point you where to go . If you came here . It's your first , second , third time or maybe it's like your 10th time , but you've never told us like for you . We have some prayer tables in the back as you walk out , some people that'll be there to pray with you and I'm going to send you off with this blessing that we have . We have this posture of giving up and receiving . As you get ready to go out into the Changemaker Fair , may the Lord bless you with his presence and give you strength and courage to represent Jesus and to represent him to those in need , and maybe by being a change maker , you can do just that . I love you , friends . I'll see you next week . Actually , I'll see you out there .