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[687.24 --> 687.68] Parenting. |
[688.22 --> 689.72] I mean, this one, I feel. |
[690.66 --> 692.44] You want to raise your kids well. |
[692.60 --> 695.66] You want them to do well and flourish and succeed in the world. |
[695.90 --> 701.78] And somehow along the way, you know this if you're parents, you want their success to come back as your success. |
[702.22 --> 702.48] Right? |
[702.48 --> 706.32] You want people to look at your kids and say, wow, I need to meet that parent. |
[706.42 --> 707.34] They're just amazing. |
[708.32 --> 709.70] And a bit of a sidebar on this. |
[709.88 --> 714.74] A couple years ago, I actually complimented an aunt of mine because I really love how she parented. |
[715.08 --> 716.12] And she's like, no, no, no. |
[716.20 --> 722.42] I don't receive that compliment because if you compliment me for all of my children's successes, I also have to own all their failures. |
[722.46 --> 723.72] And I don't want any of it. |
[724.22 --> 726.04] And I thought that was wisdom right there. |
[727.92 --> 728.98] Or how about this? |
[730.10 --> 731.20] This is really close to home for me. |
[731.20 --> 731.98] You're a pastor. |
[732.48 --> 734.12] And you want your church to grow. |
[734.52 --> 735.32] You want it to thrive. |
[735.54 --> 737.36] You want it to sort of increase in number. |
[737.90 --> 746.72] And in so doing, you secretly hope that that growth and that flourishing makes people look at you and say, wow, now that's a successful pastor. |
[748.48 --> 750.94] Do these examples hit close to home for you? |
[751.30 --> 760.48] That desire for respect, for greatness, for prestige, for authority over others in one way or another, it is so close to our hearts. |
[760.48 --> 763.16] And the work, I think, for this passage in us. |
[763.16 --> 764.76] It's just to do some self-examination. |
[764.76 --> 764.78] It's just to do some self-examination. |
[764.78 --> 766.48] Say, where is that going for me? |
[766.80 --> 767.50] How am I lured? |
[767.58 --> 772.68] And it's often not one crazy decision you make to be some jerk who has authority over people. |
[772.76 --> 781.88] It's this gentle, gradual movement away from service and moving towards the self at the center and your own ego and all the rest. |
[781.88 --> 787.82] And Jesus, to his own disciples, cuts through this same mentality in the first century. |
[787.98 --> 792.02] And he says, that's how the world thinks, but not so for you. |
[792.54 --> 794.64] For you, the way up is down. |
[794.78 --> 797.02] The way for you is the way of servanthood. |
[797.50 --> 799.18] And he's like, let me show you how it's done. |
[799.50 --> 802.34] I will show you in my own life. |
[802.34 --> 811.56] And if there's ever a passage that I think spells out beautifully the movement of Jesus from up to down, it's Philippians chapter 2. |
[811.92 --> 813.32] And I'd like to read it for us. |
[814.42 --> 817.82] This has a lot of meaning for me because this is actually in my wedding verse. |
[818.94 --> 819.64] Notice how it starts. |
[819.64 --> 848.48] Do you see the movement there? |
[848.48 --> 874.32] That's the way of Jesus. |
[874.32 --> 880.72] And I tell you, that is just as challenging today for us as it was for his own disciples. |
[881.60 --> 885.12] And if I had to pick another passage that I would love to preach on this morning, I'm not going to. |
[885.42 --> 886.78] It's Jesus in John 13. |
[886.96 --> 888.36] He's coming near the end of his ministry. |
[888.76 --> 891.42] He's equipping his disciples for all that they're going to do after him. |
[891.44 --> 892.14] And what does he do? |
[892.88 --> 901.28] Gathers them in a room, takes off the robe, goes down on the floor, pulls out the basin and the bowl, and he washes their feet. |
[901.28 --> 903.96] I don't think they ever forgot that day. |
[904.78 --> 911.76] I don't think they ever could forget an image of Jesus, the Son of God, full of glory and power, washing their feet. |
[911.82 --> 915.34] He says, that's what it means to follow the Lord. |
[915.34 --> 927.44] Andy Crouch, an author I quite like, he was reflecting on Christian leadership, and he wrote this quote about authority, and I'm going to read it for you. |
[927.44 --> 941.50] He says, the most transformative acts in our lives are likely to be the moments where we radically empty ourselves in the very settings where we would normally be expected to exercise authority. |
[942.72 --> 945.26] Now, let me ask you, is anything coming to mind when you think about that? |
[946.52 --> 953.30] Any story of your childhood where maybe you got in a lot of trouble, and the person who you were expecting coming down hard on you actually showed grace, |
[953.30 --> 956.46] or they served you in these profound, surprising ways? |
[957.32 --> 962.60] I think those are the moments where we actually experience the life of Jesus through other people. |
[963.32 --> 969.26] When people empty themselves, when they do not have to or would not be expected to, but they do that because they follow Jesus, |
[969.58 --> 973.46] and the way of Jesus is washing the feet of the world in one way or another. |
[973.46 --> 983.34] Using your position in a company, using your responsibility, using your gifts, not to go up, but to show other people how you can serve and bless them. |
[985.62 --> 995.12] I often think to myself, and I'll invite you into imagining this, imagine the church was known not first and foremost for sort of denouncing culture for one issue or another, |
[995.12 --> 1006.56] not writing angry social media posts about one politician or another policy, but imagine the church, our church, was known for rolling up its sleeves and serving. |
[1009.04 --> 1012.66] Imagine how that would change the perception of your neighbors and my neighbors. |
[1014.10 --> 1016.44] And now let me just say a few encouraging words to us. |
[1017.30 --> 1021.00] There have been many moments where I have met people who are not part of our church, |
[1021.00 --> 1025.38] and they give to me their feedback about how they have met people at our church who have served them, |
[1025.50 --> 1030.48] or they've seen things that we do in the city, and they're encouraged by the way we care for the needs of our neighbors, |
[1030.72 --> 1032.04] and I praise the Lord for that. |
[1032.80 --> 1035.72] Because that's a reputation that I can't carry. It's cared by the whole community. |
[1036.10 --> 1037.32] Can I give you just a few examples? |
[1038.64 --> 1041.62] I mean, you heard Rob share about the Adopt-a-Street garbage cleanup, |
[1042.00 --> 1047.06] which, as we said in the earlier service, it's the most unsexy ministry we have in our church, right? |
[1047.06 --> 1051.06] You just get out there, it's often raining half the year, and you pick up garbage. |
[1051.62 --> 1057.46] And I was told by someone who served in that ministry that he has had more conversations about faith |
[1057.46 --> 1061.70] with people who are not part of our church in that particular setting than at their workplace. |
[1062.10 --> 1062.82] Isn't that fascinating? |
[1063.14 --> 1066.24] Because people see people clean up garbage and are like, why are you doing that? |
[1066.26 --> 1068.02] It's like pouring rain out here. Like, why? |
[1068.14 --> 1070.54] And you're like, oh, I'm part of Hope, and we do this once a month, |
[1070.56 --> 1072.00] and this is one of the ways we serve our community. |
[1072.34 --> 1075.00] What a simple way to show that we care and that we're serving. |
[1075.00 --> 1079.14] Let me give you another example, and this one I really love. |
[1079.20 --> 1083.10] Over the last year or two, I have noticed that we have newcomers come to our church, |
[1083.22 --> 1087.16] praise the Lord for that, and a lot of them, new to the city, new to the country in some cases, |
[1087.40 --> 1088.44] looking for jobs. |
[1089.08 --> 1093.26] And there is this, like, mysterious informal network that I can't even figure out, |
[1093.32 --> 1095.16] where it's like one person talks to one person saying, |
[1095.24 --> 1097.52] hey, this person needs a job in this area or this trade, |
[1097.66 --> 1101.36] and that person sends an email who sends a text, and all of a sudden there's a job interview, |
[1101.36 --> 1105.66] and there's this, like, amazing networking of people in different positions in our church |
[1105.66 --> 1109.84] who have helped many people they don't even know who are new to our church find a job, |
[1109.90 --> 1111.52] and I praise the Lord for that. |
[1112.08 --> 1116.30] And maybe it's worth just commenting on the side here that this passage does not invite us |
[1116.30 --> 1120.24] to leave positions of authority, does not invite us to step down from positions |
[1120.24 --> 1123.40] where we might have a great measure of influence over others. |
[1123.40 --> 1128.70] What it does is it sends us to those positions as servants, right? |
[1128.76 --> 1132.40] In Jesus' own ministry, there are many people who occupy positions of authority, |
[1132.60 --> 1137.06] and what happens is they now go back to work in that sphere, that job, that title, |
[1137.18 --> 1140.56] as a person who washes the feet of their neighbors through their work |
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