Greatness from God

It needs to be shaped and changed and maybe just completely refuted by what Jesus teaches. This morning, we're going to learn about greatness from Jesus, the great God and Savior. The first section is going to show us Jesus is that one son who is great. And then we're going to look at the beginning of Chapter 18 regarding greatness.

Jesus is the great son

Simple message this morning. Receive Jesus in humility. To walk in his way. With confidence. Receive Jesus in humility. to walk in his way with confidence. Our first point is Jesus is the great son. And here's this kind of unusual text. It's a bit different. And well, it just so happens Wednesday was tax day, and we have a tax. Now, this is a temple tax, so it's different.

When they come to Capernaum, the collectors of two drachma tax went up to Peter and said, does your teacher not pay the tax? Peter said, yes.

So this was a temple tax that was imposed, not ordained in scripture, but taken from principles of scripture that the whole community would contribute to the shared temple for its upkeep, maintenance, and its use, and the man asked, Jesus' disciple Peter, it would be rude for him to ask Jesus directly as a rabbi. So he asked Peter, does your master not pay the temple tax? Simple yes or no, and Peter says yes. He does make his proper contribution. Now, what then gets interesting is when Peter comes into the house, Jesus first addresses this with him. He brings this issue up with Simon.

What do you think, Simon?

How do you think about this?

From whom do kings of the earth take toll or tax?

From sons or from others, from their own family or from the other citizens, or oftentimes it actually be other nations as a tribute. Peter here answers wisely or correctly. From others, he says. Jesus makes the obvious conclusion, the logical conclusion from the fact that a king would take from others, then the sons are free.

Meaning that the son of the king is free from the tax. A son shouldn't have to pay a tax. Verse 27, however. Okay, let's just pause there for a second because there's a real incredible implication as to what Jesus just said that we might miss. He is communicating he should be free from paying the tax because he's not just a citizen of Israel, he's not a foreigner of Israel, he's actually the son of God. He shouldn't pay the tax Because he's the son of God. The temple is his inheritance. The temple is his as the God who they are worshiping. The son is the great God who should be free from paying this tax in his true identity.

But he goes on, however, not to give a fence to win to them. So that they will be offended that I, in my incarnate state, in my humanity, I'm not making my contribution as a a true child of Eve and Mary, a true child of Abraham in the physical descent,

go to the sea and cast a hook and take the first fish that comes up, and when you open his mouth, you'll find a shekel. Take that and give it to them for me and for yourself.

This is not a prescription for how to pay your taxes.

It's a unique text. where Jesus is responding to the question to just give them one more way to think about who he is as the true son of God. Peter's seen him in the transfiguration. He's seen him in his glory. He's taught them that he's gonna die and then rise again. He's taught them with great authority. There's many ways in which Jesus keeps pointing he is the son of God. who's unique and has absolute authority and is truly great because he's greatly God as glorious.

However, go and find this miraculous shekel and it'll pay for the two of us so that we don't give offense. Well, just take the moment and see that because it is tax season, Christian, it's a different kind of tax. This is a temple tax versus a state tax or a national tax. But God has ordained nations. God raises up kings and presidents and governments. He ordains governments and it's a good institution because as God designed it, it's supposed to help us be less sinful. It's supposed to curb our problem of sin and original sin.

So Christian, if you're upset about paying taxes this past week, The way in which you realize that paying your taxes is part of worship because it's what God commanded in Romans. Paying your taxes can be a way in which you're trusting God that he is in charge of that government and he's in charge of your money and paying taxes is part of what you do as a fellow citizen here on earth. There's also a way we think about this temple tax.

There's a wonderful way in which we're supposed to come together in communities and contribute together. Again, it's budget season. The whole idea of a church budget, it's one of the most important documents of the church in that we regularly review it, rarely come back and vote on it. And it is the one document that regularly unites us as we reaffirm it. There's a way in which we're gladly coming together and saying, this is what God is doing and what we want to see God do. And we want to come together and make that contribution together. Now, again, if you want to go fishing and try to find extra money, I'm all for that. I'm not sure that's what is implied or taught in this text.

Greatness in Christ's kingdom

The simple truth, though, is Jesus is the great king who should not have to pay a tax because of who he is as the son of God, who is the great God. How that teaching then transfers over isn't absolutely clear, but it's interesting that as Jesus is teaching about the kings of the earth, the disciples then come and they ask him a very important question that then goes quite a way through chapter 18. Our second point, greatness in Christ's kingdom. What is greatness in Christ's kingdom?

At that time, the disciples came to Jesus saying, who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?

It's kind of amazing how you can see a few things that are consistent among all humans at all times, and one of them is a longing for some kind of greatness.

Behind this question for them, if they're really getting what Jesus says, is an idea that there's not two comings, because they still don't get that yet. They still don't really appreciate. They were distressed last time Jesus taught he's gonna die still. But there's probably some confusion about having two comings rather than just one.

They think he's here and the kingdom of heaven will be established on this earth soon. They're thinking greatness in a way that we would normally think of greatness of power on this earth. Because the Roman government that they're under is great and powerful in some ways. So they're hoping that there's gonna be some greatness of this new kingdom of heaven with Jesus where they're gonna overthrow that Roman government So they're asking, who will be great in the kingdom? Who will be greatest in that kingdom?

Well, as always, Jesus rarely answers bad questions directly. So here he calls to himself a child. So we've got an object lesson. Instead of a parable, we've got an object lesson. He brings a child into the picture, and he puts him in the midst of them.

Then Jesus teaches, truly, that word truly is where we get amen from, and it's, seriously guys, can you listen this time? Seriously, let's make sure we hear what I'm about to say, because you asked almost a good question, I'm gonna answer the question you should have asked.

Truly, I say to you, Unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

See, he's promised a coming and they want glory now. They want power now. They are not yet grasping, even though he's taught it and taught it and taught it. Suffering precedes glory. They're coming and they keep missing the main teaching point.

Unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

So many good things happening here that are crucial.

First, notice he doesn't first start by saying who's the greatest. He goes all the way back to, do you enter? He doesn't address who's the greatest right out of the gate. He just says to enter the kingdom. So instead of thinking, you know, how can I get extra credit after I haven't done any of the homework all semester? No, no, it starts with how do you actually enter there? The problem is it's kind of like a guy who he's interviewing for a job and he's already talking about how do I get the next promotion? No, how do you enter? How do you just get your foot in the door? How do you get into the kingdom? You have to be like a child. So he's not talking about the greatest yet.

Let's go back a little bit further. Unless you turn, unless you Turn, now this isn't a 360 twirl to put a little flare on your direction. This is 180. Unless you change, unless you repent, here he's making it clear, you're asking the wrong question about wanting greatness. Unless you change your direction, you're going the wrong way. You're thinking about this all wrong. You need to change and turn in your expectations, your pursuits. Repent of your ideas that you're trying to impose on my kingdom. I'm the king, Jesus says. Go back and just hear how counterintuitive his kingdom is.

If you just go back and look at the Beatitudes with Matthew 5.

Blessed are the poor. Blessed are the merciful? Blessed are the meek? Blessed are the persecuted?

It's a different kind of kingdom he's been preaching and teaching on all along. They're asking how to be the greatest. They need to repent of their goals and their ambitions.

So turn to enter the kingdom and become like children. So there's three observations, to enter, to turn, and now become like children. It's a simile, it's a comparison. And we see the kind of helpful interpretive angle he gives us, because verse four says humble. So whatever it means to be like a child means that it's humble. Kind of goes along with that poor in the Sermon on the Mount.

These disciples, all disciples, must turn and become like children. Turn from your self-confidence, your self-reliance, your self-determination, and depend fully on Christ for everything you need. We need to do a bit of a transvaluation because the way we view children today is very different than the way they understood them 2,000 years ago. Children in the age of Jesus are not like we view children in our culture.

Children were seen as irresponsible. They did not make significant contributions to society. They did not produce anything. They were needy and received much. They took from culture, society. They did not produce. In an age where you're making the bread you will eat that day, when you don't have grocery stores, you need producers. So children don't have the same value They had great potential, but they aren't valued like we oftentimes think and talk about children.

We live in a decadent age where we're less needy and we view children differently. We started to pretend that children need to teach adults somewhere along the way. We stopped disciplining children so they actually become mature and contribute to society. Yes, children are wonderfully innocent and curious. They remain the image of God and have a value and a dignity, but children are growing up to be dependable and contribute.

So to say to become like a child, Jesus, too often we think, oh, we should be childish. No, it's you're dependent. You're coming fully needy. To become like a child means you do not come entitled. To become like a child means you don't come with demands and expectations. To become like a child is to come not insisting on your own way. To become like a child means you're not looking to overthrow the king. Rather, you're rejoicing that you get to sit at the table with the king. You come to receive what the king promises. You come to listen and obey the king. Become like a child and you enter into that kingdom humbly.

Again, verse four is that clarifying statement.

Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest.

This is what we call the upside down kingdom. You want to be great? Be humble. The lowly are exalted in the kingdom of heaven. It's a different kind of kingdom than anything we have on this earth.

Humility is not self-deprecation

Except for we're supposed to be like this as a church. Now, this word humble, we need to define this with some clarity. Humility is not self-deprecation. Too often humility is understood to be self-hatred or lacking confidence. That kind of humility is deceptive. It isn't real humility. You're lying to yourself.

God designed you with dignity and value. God made you with certain gifts and abilities, and for you to say you're not good at it is lying. God gives everyone dignity, value, ability. By design, you're supposed to know what God has done in you and for you and given to you.

Humility is receiving what is good, knowing it is good, and thankful that it's good. Humility is really just sane thinking about yourself. Humility is seeing yourself truly in what God has said and done and given to you. It's opposed to boasting and folly, but humility actually gives you real confidence and there can be godly confidence. Knowing who God is and what he's designed you for so that you confidently do it. Boasting of your own good is folly and that's not great.

But kingdom greatness, humility marked by gratitude and stewardship. Kingdom greatness is humility that is marked by gratitude. I have received this and stewardship. I want to use it for the purpose of the one who gave it to me. Kingdom greatness is received and then given away. It's not grasped and taken away.

You come seeking to receive greatness from God that you do not deserve. It is a foreign greatness because when God brings you into the kingdom, You who deserve wrath receive his love. You belong to him. Greatness in the kingdom means you sit at the king's table and you rejoice in him and you know him. And there is an imposter syndrome you have to get over. Because as a sinner, you don't belong there. But in Christ, you come and grow in confidence that because of Christ, you must be there. He's called you into his kingdom. He's called you into his presence.

Confidence grows up in grace. Confidence in the great gospel of God that saves you fully and completely in Christ by his spirit produces a humility that does not boast but depends upon him all the more. He found a Christian, the way to enter into the kingdom is to see your sin and see that there is no other forgiveness for it, there is no other taming it, there is no controlling it. Only Christ can help rule your heart, can rule your heart, can forgive you of that sin by His death on the cross, can give you a peace that you long for that you know you do not have by believing in Him like a child coming just dependent that He will give you what you need. If we look at that bigger picture in scripture, greatness. God designed us for greatness.

In the garden, Adam and Eve were the greatest of the creatures. They had the great privilege and ability to spread God's glory. That is great. When we lost our position, when we lost that greatness, the Tower of Babel, what did they want? They wanted to make a name great for themselves. And it was so great that we all came together and built this wonderful big tower that God had to come down to see it. And he destroyed that effort because we cannot make our own greatness. And then the very next story is God promising Abraham

I will give you a great name.

You're designed for greatness. God made you to be great in his way, according to his will, in his grace, for his glory.

We need to be careful of shying away from greatness. God calls us by faith in his grace to his greatness. The danger is in sin, we always want a different kind of greatness, an immediate gratification greatness, or a greatness that has great power. We need to constantly test what kind of greatness are we looking for? I have a pretty classic way of knowing, are you pursuing God's greatness or another kind of greatness? Two ways to test what kind of pursuit of greatness you're looking for, where you're trying to find your happiness and joy and greatness.

Your calendar and your checkbook. Now young folks, checkbook is this material paper thing that we used to use to make money payments. Venmo. What do you prioritize with your time on your calendar? What's in pen, what's in pencil? That will tell you what you think real greatness is. Where you're spending your lifetime, where you're spending your money, Both of those, if you really want to get analyzed by the Holy Spirit, you look at those two things and ask, how am I spending my life, time and money, in pursuit of greatness? The greatness Christ provides means we repent, we pursue His ideas and His greatness. Our next point is the danger of sin. The danger of sin. Verse 5 to 14 really come together as a unit and there's a instruction and warning.

The danger of sin

Notice verse 5,

whoever receives one such child in my name receives me.

So he's already said in order to come into the kingdom, you must come by turning and become like a child And now he's simply saying, whoever receives one such child, that child who would repent and come in his name, by receiving them, you're receiving me. But by receiving the one, there's something about that, he just says one, the smallest number, and the child, the least figure of humanity here, according to the grace and truth of Christ, which means coming in his name, What you do to the smallest number, to the smallest human, the least human, you receive them in my name, you receive me. There's a way in which we see what Christ is teaching is a pattern that we see throughout scripture. We're going to see a little bit in Matthew 22.

Love God, love neighbor. How you treat others is a direct reflection on how you relate to God. pretty clearly throughout all of the New Testament.

Love one another as I loved you. Welcome one another as I welcomed you. Forgive one another as you have been forgiven.

All these are already from Colossians reading we had earlier.

Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.

There's something odd that happens to believers who come fully dependent upon grace that we kind of forget that's how we got in and then we start acting a different way. We must confess the great grace of Christ that saved us.

And here it's extending that same great grace that once such a little child might come in, you receive me as you're receiving that child. Humble, dependent, coming in the name of Christ. Now what follows, Jesus emphasizes the danger of not receiving a child.

So the command, whoever receives, receives me, real simple, real short, but notice the warning and danger of not doing this.

But whoever calls us one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it will be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned to the depths of the sea.

No, whoever causes one of these little ones who believes in me, significant qualifier there, that the child, the small child that would be seen in significant society, but here, what makes him significant, he believes in me, he comes in my name. If you cause them to sin, it'd be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and be drowned in the depths of the sea. That's not a parable. I don't think the disciples had to come afterwards and ask, what does that mean? That is a horrible, clear, certain death.

So key question, how might we cause one of these little children who believe in Jesus to sin? Let's start with what Jesus is oftentimes confronting in the Gospels, giving an ungodly expectation or hurdle. Jesus already confronted this kind of legalism in Matthew 15. You deny the word of God by insisting on your traditions. They wanted to insist you've got to wash your hands in order to be truly clean and purified. Insisting on tradition always has with it some kind of denying God's word.

What does it mean to cause them to sin? I want to be real clear. You are responsible for your own sin. There's a weird thing we oftentimes say is that he made me mad. I always like to respond to that. Why did you give them that power? You are responsible for your own anger. You should not give anybody that kind of authority over your own heart, mind, and soul to make you mad.

At the same time, There are certain people who can be so destructive and toxic who are that close to your life that sin is almost inevitable in the way you process what's happening. But to cause them to sin, there's a real issue in which you would cause someone to be tempted and to sin.

Add hurdles to the gospel of grace alone, by faith alone, and Christ alone. By making the gospel confusing with the wonderful order that God gives us, grace, faith, works. Confuse who God is. That often is by blending your own will with God's and insisting that what you say must be what God says because you are really convinced of it. Cause them to lack faith with behavior. or introducing doubts and suspicions that cause them to question God's word. Behave like Satan that says,

did God say? Has God really said?

A way to cause one of these little ones to sin, pull them off the line of morality against their conscience. Insist on license, promote permissiveness where God's law has an absolute prohibition. Now, in case you weren't following, I started with being a legalist and adding barriers, and I ended with being too licensed and liberal by saying nothing's prohibited. Those are the two basic ways in which we cause people to sin, adding or subtracting, both of which deny who God is and what the gospel is.

A child dying on their own, that doesn't make someone culpable. We need to make sure we are teaching the children. As we think about it, he has a child right there in the midst. He's brought a child in, and that child represents many things, but the child who believes, we need to understand that parents, adults, young adults, the children are watching.

One of the things I am most convinced of and convicted of, we've got to hand the faith over to the next generation. Are they perceiving, well, this is what the Bible says, but I hear the adult believers gossip and slander. I know what the Bible says, but why don't they respect authority? When the children are listening, when the children are watching, do they see us proclaiming Christ and behaving in a way that brings honor to Christ?

To take that on the flip side, if you're a member of this church, your ministry to my children is to proclaim and practice the same gospel. Youth ministry needs, what I want our youth ministry to be is I want my children to think I'm less crazy because you preach the same gospel and live it out the same way.

Why are you laughing? That's a real problem. We all think our parents are crazy. But for my children to hear young adults and the empty nesters and the others who come around and say the same truth, that's why these Sunday school classes are so helpful to hear, have this intergeneration dialogue to speak of the same truth. to come alongside the youths. Powerful ministry. Serving the nursery is a powerful ministry. It's not the least of these. What a wonderful way to care for the children of God who might believe one day.

We gotta hear this hard, severe warning. It's better to be sunk down at the depth of the sea. with a great millstone under your neck than to cause a child believing to sin, to doubt, to wonder. Verse seven continues this warning with a woe.

Woe to the world for temptation to sin, for it is necessary that temptations come.

All right, let's just pause there. Since Adam and Eve took that apple, we've been living in a world of sin and temptation comes and sin comes and there's temptation everywhere. Temptation is supposed to be happening and will happen out there. Don't be surprised by it, but you should be surprised by it here. Sin and temptation are going to take place out there. It shouldn't happen here though. Where in the world temptation is necessary because we all now are born in sin.

We're born in Adam.

but woe to the one by whom that temptation comes.

If you're the cause, if you're the prod, if you're the pull. He's speaking of how your life impacts others, how you steward your life, how you behave, how you speak. We really have no concept of how others are watching and trying to perceive what is the good true life and what our words and actions mean to them.

Woe to the one by whom the temptation comes.

Again, your relation to God has an immediate impact on your relation to others.

Woe to the one by whom it comes.

Throw it away

Now we go to verse eight.

And if your hand or your foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life crippled or lame than with two hands or two feet to be thrown into the eternal fire. And if your eye caused you to sin, tear it out and throw it away, it is better for you to enter life with one eye than the two eyes to be thrown in the hell of fire.

This whole section here is making sure we understand there's a turn, there's a repentance. He's calling for them to repent in another way. Repent is key. Repent is tied to faith because Jesus' first call,

repent for the kingdom of God is at hand.

To be a disciple means you deny yourself, you carry your cross, you follow him. Verse 8 and 9 is a vivid picture of what it means to deny yourself. I want you to see what's common in verse 8 and verse 9. Both are conditional statements. If, then.

If your hand causes you to sin, then cut it off. If your eye caused you to sin, then tear it out. If it is that kind of temptation causing you to sin, tear it out because you might cause someone else to sin with your sin. And you might be going to hell because of that sin. So there's an if-then. The other observation is there's a command. Cut it off or cut it out. Throw it away. Throw it away. The final observation is they both have better statements.

It's better not to be thrown in hell. Throw it away because it's better not to be thrown in hell. Let's start with the better motivation. It's truly foundational for why you would ever cut anything off or anything out of your life that you'd like. It's better to be without whatever that is that the Holy Spirit has brought in your mind than to be thrown in hell.

There's a lot of words that the church now avoids. Hell is probably the most avoided. We don't like words like submission anymore. We like to avoid anything controversial. We especially don't like anything that might take away our own sense of worth. But hell is this concept that is necessarily true throughout all scripture that the church has found a way to sidestep or redefine that I think is just unhelpful. We get embarrassed about hell. God's word is very clear. There's two ends. Heaven and hell. There's with God and against God. There's in Christ or in Adam. This kind of two ways is one of the most dominant patterns in scripture. Hell.

The eternal, forever, absolute experience of God's wrath against your sin. Hell. the eternal, forever, absolute experience of God's wrath against your sin. Right now, we enjoy what we call common grace. You do not feel the full wrath, and maybe not wrath at all, of what God's wrath is against your real sin.

But hell will remove any and all grace. Hell is the eternal, forever, absolute experience of God's wrath against your sin. Hell is the full experience of you being isolated from His love, His mercy, and His grace. Hell is the full experience of your sin that isolates you from all others. It's not some party of the sinners. No, it is an isolated, terrifying, fearful place where God's wrath is immediately experienced forever with your sin.

We all want some form of hell for those worst of sinners. We do want God to be a just God of punishment. We just don't want to believe that we could be that worst kind of person who deserves punishment. The only way we do not deserve the punishment of God as sinners is that he would send his son to be punished in our place. The only way we lose the future of being punished forever in the wrath of God is by Jesus paying for that penalty and us believing in him.

Now, here we have the statement. It is better not to be in hell. I have in my notes, pause for amen. It is better not to be in hell. That's the whole argument. It's better. It's a better argument. It's a better statement. What's better than not being in hell? What's better than being in hell? Sorry. What's better than being in hell? Throw away and cut off that which will lead you to hell. You're going to throw away that sin or you will be thrown into hell. Don't miss that word picture. It's better to throw away the sin that carries you into hell than to be thrown into hell. All right, by cutting off your hand, cutting out your eye, Jesus is not teaching self-mutilation. He's teaching us to put off in the most clear way whatever sin we think we need.

And the hand and the eye, they're related to what we see and what we do. And if we go back to the garden, Adam and Eve were tempted to think they could see better.

Your eyes will be opened.

They were tempted that they could do better. Take this fruit and eat it. And ever since then, our eyes and our hands and our hearts and our minds have been corrupted.

Jesus has come to give you a better life. It's a better life that cuts out sin. Or to speak of the other way scripture speaks of this, you cut out sin, you mortify sin, you put it to death, you throw it off, you put it off. Jesus calls us out of what he died for and saved us from.

To put it in the context of our passage, there's nothing great about sin. There's nothing great about sin. It's lie is that it is great and you'll be fine. No, sin takes what is great and what God has made and gives and strips away all greatness. And it ultimately leads to what's gross. Sin is taking what God made that is good and takes away all the greatness and adds to this what is gross. And if you want an example of this, sex and marriage is great. Pornography is gross. Throw it out. Being like a child, humble enough to hear, it is sin and throw it away. That leads to real greatness.

The gospel of Jesus Christ promises prosperity. The real gospel has real prosperity. And it's not more money, it's not more power, it's more freedom to delight in God. The gospel of Jesus Christ promises that you can be renewed in the design of God, to walk humbly enough in Him, to rejoice in Him, to know Him, to be restored? Are you humble enough before Jesus to walk in His ways with confidence? You first must believe there's a real greatness of God and that He has a real plan that is great for you.

Rejoice like our Father rejoices

Christian, the goal is to grow up to that greatness. Not as individuals, but as a body. He's becoming more and more like Christ. He's cutting out that sin that keeps us from God and keeps us from one another to become more Christ-like. Our last section, I knew I'd run short of time. I am aware of how long a sermon is. We'll come back to it next week, verses 10 to 14. See what the greatness of God is like. You see that you can rejoice like our Father rejoices.

See that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I tell you that in heaven, their angels always see the face of my Father who is in heaven.

What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them has gone astray, he does not leave the 99 on the mountain or go in search of the one that went astray? And if he finds it truly, I say to you, he rejoices over it more than the 99 that never went astray. So it is not the will of my father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish.

Now this passage has all kinds of wonderful little nuggets in it.

Like one, do we have guardian angels? Is that what verse 10 is speaking of? And what happened to verse 11? And what is the will of God and the declaration of salvation for all people? Come back next week if you want me to answer those questions. Verse 10,

see that you do not despise one of these little ones.

Just take in how that corresponds with verse five.

Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me.

Same statement, just different sides of the coin.

Receive them, do not despise them. Do not cause them to sin. That's what follows they receive them. What follows they don't despise them. Pursue them like the father pursues them. Rejoice in their repentance. If someone goes astray, long to see them, but the father would receive them as a good shepherd. Do not despise them on the grounds of their sin. I think what that verse 10 is saying with the angels, the angels see the father's face. The angels see how he sees us who go astray. And they see how the father looks at us who go astray. You could say there's grief.

Because he's watching and he knows his flock. He sent his son to purchase each member of that flock. He sees them all and he goes after the one that goes astray out of love and compassion. He doesn't despise that one that went astray. Make sure we hear that. Do not despise the little ones. In the context here, it's the one that goes astray.

See your life and their life under the God, with the lenses of God. Long to see repentance. Long to rejoice with the heavens with one sinner repenting, especially that one who goes astray who was a believer in the flock. If you're going to see others like God sees him, you're going to hold out your hands all day long to a stiff necked obstinate people, but with grace. To show grace.

You're going to be eager to see repentance and receive others in the name of Christ and the way of Christ. Christian, the gospel that brought you out of filthy rags is the same gospel that saves others out of their filthy rags. We might not remember it, but we once had to have somebody come and help us out of those filthy rags. We have to help others out of their filthy rags.

To be great as a church

I have a regular prayer for our church. We have a number of regular prayers for the church. One is that we would not become a swampy cul-de-sac. We're a church that has all very much a strong focus on our T's crossed and our I's dotted. We seek to be theologically sound. We're committed that sound doctrine produces the kind of good works and the glory of God that is important and necessary. We want to be a theologically true church.

But a danger that comes with that is oftentimes a lack of welcoming. We can pretend we got here on our own somehow, forgetting how patient God was with us to get there. We forget grace. Church, we have a constant dilemma to hold in tension. Holding a high bar for believers to grow up the grace of Christ. Holding up the high bar that we all grew up with the measure of Jesus Christ. And holding out the grace that invites every kind of sinner who'll believe in him. That's a hard tension. We all know churches that just hold up grace and that's all they ever hold out. We all know teachers that have a high bar and they never hold up grace for anybody.

The tension of holding the high bar that we would repent and cut out our sin, and the high bar that we would be gracious enough to receive every kind of sinner, that's a hard tension. And it's the only way to be a great church. The only way. To be great as a church is to hold both of those in their proper order and place. And it's hard. But we come as children, humbly trusting the great grace of God that welcomes us in and helps us grow in the greatness of what God has called us to.

Will you pray with me? Father, we thank you for this picture we see of you as the shepherd who pursues us when we go astray, giving us the grace we need to turn. And you're rejoicing that we come back to you, the rejoicing that we would enjoy and delight in all the blessings and the grace of Christ. Thank you that you have given us such a clear way to enter the kingdom. Fully dependent, needing a savior, like children needing everything they need for life.

May we all come trusting Jesus in his death and resurrection. And then may we know how to tear out that sin that keeps us from growing in him and rejoicing in him. Thank you for the great gospel that forgives us and restores us and calls us to one body together in that unity. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.