Discipleship

Next week in the evening, we'll have our members meeting, and we'll be voting on our mission partners, and Lord willing, we're adding two, which is very encouraging. One will be here Wednesday. Another is a Chinese pastor who was asking if we would pay tuition for him to go to seminary. Well, after the meeting where we presented these a couple months ago, a member of the church walks up and simply says, hey, just got a promotion. I'm gonna pay for this guy's school. And I want to highlight this because he's modeling what I believe Jesus is giving at with our teaching today. A right relationship with money. This member recognized he had just gotten a promotion. He was blessed and he wanted to use it to be a blessing. It was a significant sacrifice for him and his family. But somebody he didn't even know, He's trusting because we've talked with him and Mark has promoted him. And he said, I wanna help this brother out with what I've been given. This is the way believers act towards one another. Acts has these simple little summaries throughout it. They were committed to the apostles teaching and to fellowship and to prayer, breaking of bread is one. Acts six is also one. where the disciples had things in common. And what that meant was no one was in need. People were selling land to make sure that no brother or sister in Christ went without. It's pretty radical for the kind of witness the church had early on. Because in the Roman society, men and women did not gather together like they did in the church. Romans and Jews did not gather together like they did in the church. Different classes did not gather together like they did in the church. You had all these different folks, even barbarians and Scythians, they say. Gathered together, having all things in common because they all believed in Christ. We're looking at today what many call the upside down living of the gospel. It's upside down because it's not intuitive. We just heard blessed are the poor, woe to the rich, Next week, love and show mercy to your enemy? These things are not intuitive, but they're modeled for us by our God and expected of us from our God. This morning, you're looking for a one-sentence summary. We're mainly looking at those teaching points. It's this. Jesus calls us to pursue faithfulness now because he promises reward later. Jesus calls us to pursue faithfulness now because he promises rewards later. We're going to ask three questions of those blessings and woes. What is your treasure? When will you be satisfied? And whose approval is desired? Briefly, I want to walk through 12 and 19, 12 through 19. We see a turn in Luke's gospel. We've seen over and over again, he's been talking about Jesus teaching, but we've not heard it yet. Here Jesus has gone up, he's prayed, and now we've seen Levi, we know as Matthew, we've seen Peter called specifically. They left everything to follow Jesus, but now we see this specific list of 12 disciples. I wanna highlight the last one. Judas Iscariot. who Luke and Matthew, all the Gospels make clear, he's a traitor. Now, if you're not a Christian, this is really important. Jesus, who came to save sinners, Jesus, whose intent was to come and die and rise again to save everyone who believed in him, he embraced a traitor. Jesus knows Judas is going to betray him even as he's calling him. Even as he's bringing him near. Even at the last supper when he takes his hand. Judas is embracing this traitor as part of his closest group of friends. Because his plan is to die. His plan is to be betrayed, not just by Judas, but let's be clear, by all humanity. By all of us. He came to his own, and his own knew him not. Jesus has come to be a friend of sinners. And what he found were we were still acting like enemies. He came to die, and we see his power, his purpose, and the plan of salvation for us in that he's embracing this traitor. Call to you if you don't believe. You need to see his purpose in coming. To save us. You need to see his power in coming and that he's even willing to bring about this traitor so that his death will take place for certain. Because he's the only way for us to be saved. The other thing we see in this story is he's coming down from the mountain. He's on the plain. And there are people from all over. Judea, Jerusalem, Tyre, Sodom. Those are Gentile areas. They're all coming. And the way Luke describes this, the physician, verse 19, the crowd started to touch him for power came out from him. And he healed them all. Now, this is similar to Matthew's Sermon on the Mount. But I believe it's a different sermon. We call this the Sermon on the Plain because notice he comes down from the mountain. Different setting, different sermon, different purpose. Now, okay, there's a lot of things that are very similar, but if you're a preacher or teacher and you walk around and you teach in different places, you kind of use the same stories. You keep saying kind of the same things in different ways, in different groups, in different settings, and this is what Jesus would do. So of course there's things that are similar, but I believe this is an entirely different sermon. The power comes out of Jesus. and the power to make people well, the power to restore people to health and strength. We see this all-powerful God. And then the startling words that come out of his mouth, blessed are the poor. It's not I'll use all my power to make you rich. There's something very startling about the way he's even set this up. Notice also, he's called disciples. The disciples are gathered, verse 17, and what he's speaking about, what he's saying, is focused in on the disciples. Verse 20, he lifted up his eyes on his disciples. This is teaching for disciples, those who have believed, those who wanna deny themselves, carry their cross and follow him. He's telling us how to live. Now as we look at these, we just wanna step back from what he's saying. There's four blessings, and they parallel the four woes. Blessed are the rich, or blessed are the poor. That's what we really wanna say. That's really what it intuitively wants to come out. Blessed are the poor, where are the rich? Blessed are the hungry, now. Notice the emphasis on the time stamp there. What are you who are full, now? Blessed are you who weep, now. What are you who laugh, now? And then notice this fourth parallel, the amount of words he adds to the blessing. Blessed are you when people hate you, when they exclude you, when they revile you and spurn your name as evil on the account of the Son of Man. Now this is awkward, this is difficult, this is smashing into a way we typically think in our own culture. Let's just be very honest, a rich dude's talking to a bunch of rich people right now. about blessed be the poor or the rich. How rich are we? On Wednesday, you can show up before the prayer service, and if you hit a magic button on your computer the day before, a glorious chicken sandwich is gonna show up. Right, the closest thing we've got to manna. That's how rich we are. You just click a button, you show up, and something tasty is there just automatically. That's rich. We're not worried about where our next meal is. We're wondering where should we go eat. That's rich. The temptation to soften this is real. We need to be aware of it. The opportunity for hypocrisy is terrifying. So I want to walk through this carefully. Three questions, what is your treasure? When will you be satisfied? Whose approval do you desire? First, what is your treasure? And this is getting at your relationship with money. This is getting at the concern God has with our relationship with wealth. We don't like to talk about this. It's an awkward conversation any time we talk about money. Because there's usually an easy idol there. but I want us to see God's word talks about it all over the place. God's word talks about the things that are important, and if we're gonna be people of Christ, people of his book, we have to talk about these things. God is good in that he talks about some of the most important things, or the most important things for life and godliness. Now, nowhere does the Bible say poverty is a good thing. Nowhere is poverty good. Poverty really is a consequence of the fall. The way God designed the garden was to have plenty for everybody. It's because of sin that there's a curse in the ground that makes bearing the goods for all people difficult. Poverty, lacking, is a cause for the fall. Poverty is not sinful. Being rich isn't sinful. Having money isn't sinful. It's not the root of all evil. It's a root of evil, money is. I'm gonna wrestle with this. Here's some assertions I think we can make with certainty regarding money as taught in Scripture. One, poverty does not qualify you to receive the kingdom. He's not saying blessed are the poor because the poor will receive the kingdom. Blessed are you who are disciples who are poor, for yours is the kingdom. If poverty is a qualification for receiving the kingdom, it just became a work. Does that make sense? So being poor isn't a qualification for the kingdom. And let me also back up. This is the Sermon on the Plain, not the Sermon on the Mount. When he talks about poor, he means poor, poor. Not poor in spirit, we're not spiritualizing this. Poor in the pocket. This is really about wealth. Not like Matthew's gospel that I think actually talks about poor in spirit. So being in poverty doesn't qualify you for the kingdom. Second, being poor is not the great calling of God, and neither is riches. Being poor is not the great calling of God, neither is riches. The great calling of God is to love the Lord your God with all your heart. Number three, the poor are physically vulnerable but being rich is spiritually dangerous. Being poor is physically vulnerable, but being rich is spiritually dangerous. Number four, Jesus does not command us to be poor, he commands us to be generous. Jesus' command is not to be poor, he commands us to be generous. And then finally, again, a reminder, he's speaking to his disciples. He wants his disciples to not be like the Pharisees. He wants his disciples to be faithful, not focused on the wrong things, in the wrong way, but being men who are generous and trusting God. Blessed are the poor, woe to the rich, we should be feeling a little uncomfortable. Now, I wanna say something about the context. In this culture, you were born into poverty, you would typically then live in poverty, and then you would hand on to the next generation poverty. There's not a lot of rags to riches stories in Israel at this time. You were born into wealth or you were born into poverty. There wasn't a way of working your way out of it like we know in our cultures. We need to make sure that's clear. And it's also helpful to remember, these guys all just left their livelihoods. Peter left the boats and the nets of his business. Levi left a very most likely prestigious and wealth producing tax collecting station. Jesus is making it clear we're not here, we're not pursuing as disciples wealth. What kind of disciples will they be? Will they be like the Pharisees who wanna perform prayer so people think much of them? That last one, what are the people when they speak well of you? They're not performers that want to make sure they're doing things just so people think well of them. They're not disciples for what they get out of it. They're disciples to be faithful. And again, I want to walk through here because these texts are clear, they're helpful, but it's also helpful to think through how do the other texts in Luke, specifically, Help inform this. Luke talks about money all the time. This is not the first time we're gonna feel awkward. Well, walk with me through the gospel of Luke. Here's some highlights that I think will help inform what it means that blessed are the poor and woe to the rich. In chapter four, verse 18, Jesus, when he declares his own mission, he said, I have been anointed to preach good news to the poor. That good news being the kingdom of God is yours. I mean, we can flip forward to 814. Remember the parable of Sower? The seed falls, and the only seed that really grows is the seed that comes on fertile ground, but the thorn aspect of that parable is likened to the concerns of this world, that the thorns choke out faith because of the cares, the riches, and pleasure of life. It's dangerous. to be focused and worried about riches. That's very clear from the parable of the sowers. Then we can go fast forward to chapter 12, verse 21. The rich fool dedicates his life to storing up provisions so that he can relax, eat, drink, and be merry. He stored up treasure on this earth. And Jesus tells us he was not rich toward God. Chapter 12, 33. While instructing not to worry, he declares, sell your possessions, give to the needy. Notice there the focus. It's generosity. It's God's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Do not hold on. Close-fisted, close-hearted. Give to the needy. Chapter 16, verse 13, there's a parable that is on our manager. Jesus says a lesson we hear over and over again, you cannot serve two masters. You cannot serve God and money. Again, chapter 16, verse 25, a rich man who never gave any help to Lazarus, a poor man who had sores. They both died the same night. And Lazarus is full, he's healed, he's well. And the rich man cries out to Jesus. Jesus says, no, you received your reward. You looked on Lazarus, you mocked him, you never gave to him, you held onto your reward, therefore you have now, will be in anguish because he is comforted. We see in that parable what's really going on, I think, in chapter six. Blessed are the poor for yours is the kingdom of God. Lazarus, by faith, in this parable, is saved. He's healed, he's well. But the rich man, woe to him. He received his consolation. He held on rather than using God's blessings for others. Then chapter 18, verse 24. The rich young ruler. Jesus has told him to sell everything. And the man walks away very sad because he was very rich. It is not a universal command to sell everything. Here, Jesus has put his finger right on his main idol. Remember, this man was boasting, I've kept the whole law. And Jesus says, well, I know what you really love. Sell everything. Then Jesus says, how difficult is it for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God? Here's the danger aspect. How difficult is it for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God? For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of the needle than a rich person to enter the kingdom of God. Somebody made up at some point that there was a gate called eye of the needle and a camel needed to go through it. No, he's talking about a camel and an eye of a needle. Way more impossible than that made up story that seemed to make it one of something you could actually do. It's impossible. Somebody responds, who can be saved? Praise God for these next words. What is impossible for man is possible for God. What is impossible for man is possible with God. This is instructive for us. Again, a rich dude preaching to some rich people. We aren't worried about where our next meal's coming from. We have blessings from God. And I want to point out, money, wealth is not the real problem. These are good things. God gives good gifts. We read that earlier. The problem is our hearts. The problem is how we take what God gives us and we twist it. We turn it. We selfishly embrace it rather than seek to use it for God's glory. This is not a universal call to poverty. It's a call to worship. I think one of the most unhelpful things we've done in our kind of Christian-ese, Christian vernacular, when we say praise and worship, for some reason people think we're talking about just the singing portion of a service. That's really unhelpful. We gotta quit saying that. The whole service is a congregational gathering of worship. The call to worship leads us into worship. Reading scripture is a way to submit and listen to God's word in worship. Proclaiming God's Word and hearing it as a way to worship. The offering was part of worship. Giving to God, and for His purposes, it's part of worship. And let me be very clear, when you walk out these doors, you're not gonna stop worshiping. The way you're going to use the funds God has given you is part of worship. The question is, who are you worshiping? We are worshiping with the wealth God's given us. We're worshiping ourselves in self-indulgence. Or we're worshiping God in the way we spend. The call here is to see how money is, there's a danger to being rich. That's the woe. That's the distress. There's a danger in being wealthy. Okay, there's a physical vulnerability in being physically poor, but being wealthy, there's a real spiritual danger. How difficult is it for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God? We need to hear that. We need to be warned. It's called a discipleship. We're blessed to be a blessing. That's one of the most clear principles in all Scripture. I believe that's the real challenge of the text. You're blessed not to hold on. You're blessed not to be self-indulgent. No, you're blessed to be a blessing. Money's one of those uncomfortable conversations we can have. I wanna also go to James. We can go through many places in Scripture. We read this earlier. The poor man should boast in his exaltation. The rich man is warm, he's received his reward. The same teaching. Are we holding on to riches as if it is the final consolation of the reward? Notice James is gonna say true religion is what? Caring for widows and orphans. False religion is seeing a brother in need and keeping your hand closed, but saying God bless you. Riches are dangerous because of how our hearts can turn to selfishness, self-glorification, Here's the question. Do we look at the finances, do we look at the wealth, do we look at what God has given us financially with gratitude and seek to use generosity? That's the main exhortation I wanna give you. Are we grateful? Are we regularly grateful to God for whatever he has given us and are we looking to be generous? Do we have open hearts, thank you, Do we have open hands? Being generous. Disciples of Jesus. If disciples of Jesus are called to be poor, they're not called to figure out how to be rich. He's telling them what the consolation is. If you are poor, if you are living in poverty, you're blessed, why? Because you have believed in Christ and you have received the kingdom. And what does Luke tell us about the kingdom elsewhere? It's worth selling everything to get it. That's the consolation. The most valuable riches you can receive, being part of God's family, his kingdom. That's the consolation. Here also from Romans eight, He has not withheld his own son. He's not gonna withhold anything good from his children. If we ask him for bread, what is he gonna do? He's gonna give us bread. He's a good God. He sees our need, he provides for us, he cares for us. Over and over again, we hear those promises, and over and over again, we need to remember, holding on to the riches, holding on to those promises, if we're gonna be self-indulgent, it's dangerous. Here's a couple questions to ask yourself and others regarding money. Is money your master? Is your life's ambition focused on just getting more? That's one problem we usually think of. Is money your master? Is it your plan just to be more rich? A second way we can relate to money poorly. Is it just a burden? Does debt constantly determine your decisions? Is debt or fear of not having enough money, is it constantly leading you to make bad decisions? Money's not supposed to be a burden in that way. Is there a shame when it comes to money? When you Google retirement calculator and you see how far you're off, is there just a shame? Wow, I'm not gonna live the American dream. Is there a pride of self-pity, comparing yourself to others, not being grateful for what God's done for you? Is it a false security? I've got full storehouses. Is it a security that only God is supposed to be? Is money something you are supposed to protect? We often don't think of the miser as having a wrong relationship with money, but that's a real dangerous one. The person who's afraid and intentionally doesn't spend it as God's steward. The right relationship to have with money, with God's wealth, is a generous gift to be received with gratitude and used for His glory. It's a generous gift to be received with gratitude for His glory. Here we've seen blessed are the poor, you're blessed because by faith you believed in Jesus and as a disciple, the kingdom of God is yours. What are the rich? Because you've self-indulged, you've received your consolation. You have to ask, where's our treasure? I wanna talk about these next two blessings and woes, these next two pairs together. When will you be satisfied? Notice the language here is a little different. Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you shall be satisfied. There's a now and a future. Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh. And we drop down to verse 25 and it's the exact same words switched. Woe to you who are full now, for you shall be hungry. Woe to you who laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep. I believe this is one of the reasons we see it. It really is physical poverty. Because the poor are hungry. The poor weep. Being poor isn't the only reason we weep. There's a real hunger. There's a real need. There's real sorrow. What are those who are full? They've made themselves content with the way they've self-indulged. The idea here of full is from Mary's Magnificat as well in Luke 152. He has filled the hungry with good things. That's one of the things Mary praises God for when it comes to Jesus who is coming to the Savior. The woe to who laugh? The understanding must be that like the rich man and Lazarus, they're mocking. That they're full because they're self-indulging. They're laughing because they're mocking. They're deriding the poor. God flips this over. Notice the great story here. If you're poor now, you will be full. If you weep now, you shall laugh. God changes stories. He turns shame into honor, guilt into forgiveness. Here he's speaking to the poor, you will be full. The emphasis in the now versus the then. What does now mean? Well, now means now. Well, we can think, well, then was now, but now's now. It's now. The Greek word helps us now, right now. Okay, the future, that might be a little more clear. The future is then. And I think if we look at the whole scripture, the true then is when Christ returns. The true then is when Christ comes. As James 5 tells us, he's standing at the door because he's heard the laborers cry out. They've robbed me of my wages. The judge is standing ready to come and bring justice, to come and fill those who are hungry, to come and bring laughter to those who are weeping, and to bring weeping to those who are laughing. I believe we can clearly see the absolute justice is when Christ comes, but there's temporary relief. There's ways in which God is constantly bringing us back into his blessing. The rich, the danger here, is again, self-consumption. This is a call to the upside down life. It changes our values. We're not gonna be self-indulgent in that our goal is just to be more full. No, it's looking and saying, who else can be full? Who else is in need? Those who are unfair, be warned. Be terrified. Christ the judge is coming. Those who are abused, be encouraged. James tells us very clearly, he hears your cries. There's a decision. live up now in our self-glorification, our self-gratification, our self-indulgence, or have delayed gratification. Live faithfully now. Trust that God's promises are true and that what He's going to give us in the future is better than what we think we can gain now. I want to address a dangerous problem I do see in the regular delayed gratification. There's a lot of Christians who say, I will be more faithful. The kind of faithful Christian I know I should be when A, B, or C are fixed. That's really dangerous. It's the same kind of problem. I'll be more faithful once I've got this thing out of the way. Here's the reality. There's always gonna be some thing that's going to keep you from being faithful if he's not truly worthy of all your faithfulness right now. If we keep waiting to be more faithful, when something is just easier, our obstacles are out of the way, we're never gonna be faithful. This delayed gratification, it's interesting in our culture. We want things now, we want it full. When I was looking up the median gratification, there was a study in Stanford, it's called the Marshmallow Experiment. They took four and five year olds, put them in a room, put a marshmallow on the table. And they said to the children, boys and girls, four and five-year-olds, we're going to leave. And you can have the marshmallow, but if you wait, you'll get a second marshmallow. They left about 15 minutes each. And you can just kind of think, would I take the one because I want it right now? Am I going to wait and get the second? It was about half and half as to the kids who would immediately take the one or kids that waited for the second treat. They then came back to those same kids, and they're 18. The kids who had the self-control to wait to get the second, on average, did 200 points better on the SAT, had less substance abuse, and less obesity. Now, is this common grace, general revelation, general recognition of what's going on? Are we willing, with the promises of God, We could fill ourselves. But if the promise of God is that if you give generously, if you live faithfully, and that means you're gonna be sacrificing something. Time, energy, money. If you're willing to sacrifice, deny yourself, is God's promise that He will finally and better fill you in the future. Is it true? Is it worth waiting on? A third question, for whose approval? This one's thick. Notice how many more words Jesus uses in 22 and 23 for the fourth blessing, but he uses the same simplicity for the fourth woe. Whose approval? The last blessing stands out because notice how many different words he's gonna use for being rejected. They hate you, they exclude you, they revile you, they spurn your name. the added words, and then there's even a command, rejoice, leap for joy. And there's a promise, your reward is great. Let's start with verse 26, because it is simpler. Woe to you, and hear this, those of you who are coming to be disciples, those of you who have said, I want to leave everything, I want to follow you, I've come to hear Jesus. He says, woe to you when all people speak well of you. For so their fathers did to the false prophets. Key there is when and all. When everybody is speaking well of you. There's an old saying, you cannot make everybody happy. I mean, we really do want to try. We really do want to be liked, accepted. We want people to think well of us. This is a real temptation. There's a serious sinful danger in wanting to accommodate Jesus and his gospel and his truth and what he expects of me for the sake of others just thinking more of me. People think Christians are backward thinkers. In our progressive age, we appear a little backwards. We believe God made man and woman. We believe homosexuality is a sin. We believe God is a just judge, and the only way to be saved is by faith in Jesus Christ. It's too easy to think, how can I remove some of these obstacles? In the name of more people coming to Jesus, and oftentimes there's also more people not thinking less of me. The reality is the gospel that saves is offensive. A sinner who rejects Jesus is offended because he's told the only way you can know God is nothing you do but believe in Jesus who did it all. That's either received by faith or it is offensive. Notice that last little qualification. Be careful of being like the fathers who spoke well of the false prophets. Jesus wants his disciples to be true prophets. False prophets will say what the people want to hear. False prophets will accommodate the message. But woe to the church, woe to disciples if we start letting culture determine and accommodate the gospel of Christ. Now let's go back up to the blessings. Blessed are you, disciples, when people hate you, exclude you, revile you, and spurn your name. The key qualifier for receiving this action of others as a blessing on account of my name. First Peter tells us very clearly, if people treat you poorly because you're a jerk, well, that's just what you get. But if people mistreat you, because you're acting like a disciple, teaching like a disciple, living as a disciple for the name of Christ. It's a blessing. Jesus told the disciples in chapter 15 of John, they will treat you like they treat me. Again, Jesus came to be betrayed by Judas and the religious leaders of Israel and the Roman guards and his own disciples. Why do we think people are gonna treat us any differently if we're faithful? If we embrace his name, if we live for his name, if we truly are obedient in the name of Christ, there are going to be people who hate us, who exclude us, who revile us. If we think about this also, the qualification of being an elder. An elder needs to be thought well of others. That means you're a faithful person at work. They don't have something you do egregious constantly. If what they don't like about you is that you're a faithful Christian, well that proves you're faithful. Here it's they speak evil because you're just like Jesus, you're following Jesus. If we're faithful, for the Son of Man. If we're not willing to accommodate our lives so that the world would embrace us more, there's a great blessing. And notice there's a command. Rejoice. Leap for joy? Anyone ever been mistreated? That's counterintuitive in every way. This is a hard teaching. When you are mistreated, rejoice. It's the same thing James said earlier. When you face various trials, count it as joy. Notice the promise, for your reward is great in heaven. What's the reward? It's at least this, well done, good and faithful servant. That's what it means to live and behave on account of the Son of Man, that if they hate you because you're living on account of the Son of Man, you're going to hear well done. But are we living in such a way that we hope other people will speak well of us? There's the two options. Am I making my decisions so that others right now will speak well of me, or am I making my decisions longing for that delayed promise? When we seize our Savior, well done. Are we living for fear of man, or are we living for fear of God? As we conclude, weighty questions. What do we treasure? Where's our heart? When will we be satisfied? Are we delaying it, knowing God's promises are true? Whose approval are we longing for? I want to turn this back to Luke 6. This is one sermon. It might not be the whole sermon, but this is the focus that Luke has given us, and I want you to notice how it ends. We've already seen there's one way of living that's blessed. There's another way of living that's, whoa, trouble, displeasing. He ends this sermon, two different kinds of trees with two different kinds of fruit. He also ends it with a warning and a promise. Come to me, listen to the words I've said. Listen to the way I'm instructing you. If you follow what I say, you're like building a house on a rock, a strong foundation. But if you ignore the words, it's like building a house on sand. There's two ways to live. As disciples of Christ, are we going to follow him in obedience? Are we gonna embrace the warning and danger of riches? Are we gonna recognize we should be grateful and generous? Are we gonna recognize there's a way in which we should be delaying our gratification because of the promises of heaven? Are we longing for God's approval? We're living for man. Think about these two ways to live. Let every man examine himself. What is your fruit? What is your foundation? Let us pray. Father, we thank you for your word, that the real anguishes, the real difficulties of life, being full of sorrow, being hungry, being poor, You see us. You hear us. You do provide for us. Lord, we thank you even more that you give us promises, that you give us your son. You give us your kingdom. You give us rewards. Lord, forgive us for being so nearsighted and just wanting the things that fill us right now, that satisfy us right now, and not sacrificially. and thankfully, using our time, our energy, our resources, as good stewards of you. Lord, we thank you for the instruction of Jesus. We thank you, Lord, that the weight of these texts, it makes it feel as if who can enter the kingdom of God? It seems impossible. Lord, we praise you. It is possible with you. Our salvation is only possible because of what you have done. Help us believe. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Let us stand and sing our song of response. My worth is not in what I own.