Gospel Identity, Part 2 // Sibling Servants

Welcome to the Lookout Weekly Podcast.

Church of the Lookout is the Old of Colorado, and our vision is Jesus, abiding in its presence, growing in its family, and living on his mission to transform the world with all-inspiring love.

Visit us online at theLookout.church.

Luke, thank you for the word this morning.

Awesome.

I'm assuming somebody will magically be bring me a table any moment now.

But uh I might even know how to it's Lemary.

Thank you, Lemary.

There we go.

Everybody thank Larry.

What was that?

Oh, okay.

Okay, okay, okay.

Good morning, everybody.

That's why I'm late.

Good morning, guys.

Hope you guys are well.

How about that buffs game last night, huh?

Whoo! I clocked out at 1045.

But man, great to see uh Boulder full of energy last night.

Um, if you're with us again uh for the first time, so thankful that you're here with us this morning.

Uh if we haven't met yet, my name is Luke, and I'm gonna be sharing from the scriptures here a little bit.

One thing I wanted to do before jumping in this morning, I want to highlight uh a few other things that are happening this fall uh that are really fun.

We're actually uh uh there are several community groups across the lookout community uh that are gonna be launching for the first time, or we're just continuing and just kind of relaunching as we come into the fall.

And so I want to highlight some of these leaders.

Um, these leaders, we didn't just recruit in and convince them and arm wrestle them until they would lead a group.

These are people that are actually out of the overflow of their heart.

These are people that desire to host community and actually create the kinds of communities in their homes and at the church and in different places that actually embody the values of the church and community groups that uh that will honor the presence of the Lord and create an environment to actually get to know one another as the family of God, but then not just that, but to actually think missionally and open up spaces at the table for more people.

And so I want to highlight a few of these leaders and point you their direction if you're here today and you're wanting some other connection points midweek and you're wanting to be around and deepen your community uh here at the lookout.

So uh I'm gonna have some of these guys stand up.

The Van Peltz, I don't think, are here.

Uh Jesse and Stacey, could you stand up?

Joy, could you stand up?

Carolyn, uh Martha Robbins.

Oh, Van Pelts are here.

Right here.

Okay, stand up, stand up, stand up, stand up, stand up.

Martha Robbins, uh where's Carolyn?

Right here, right here.

Where's Carolyn?

Uh and then let's see here.

Who are we missing?

Joy Joy.

Where's Joy?

She had surgery.

She had oh, she had surgery, so she's not here.

Okay, so we have about six different groups.

We want to highlight, and I just want to bless these guys.

These guys have said yes in their hearts, that again, opening up their lives in a specific way.

Um, the VOTS will be opening up their home out in the North Glen area.

Carolyn down here um is gonna be launching a group for for those uh in the singles um uh who want to connect with other singles and do some fun stuff and actually build deep community.

Come talk to Carolyn after the service.

Martha over here is gonna be launching a group that goes through the different episodes of the chosen, I believe, and uh and have discussion points around these biblical themes through the chosen series.

Um the Caples who are not here today, they're opening up a home in Erie and a fantastic community group.

Um the Hawkman's in the back, they're in Longmont, and you should go track them down.

They're all awesome.

Um and then Joy Joy Lundgren has an amazing uh Wednesday morning uh book study, Bible study that happens here at the church that you should be a part of.

But I just want as a body to recognize uh their yes.

They've all said yes to kind of stepping out and just saying, God, we want to open up our lives in a specific way.

So if you're around these guys, could you just put your hand on them real quick?

If there's a few people around, we want to pray for them because it's not insignificant.

And and after the service, if you're curious about what they're doing or when they're meeting, you can go find them or just go to our website, thelookout.church slash connect, and you get all the information there, okay?

So, Father, I thank you for uh these individuals, these leaders who uh who are taking a step forward and all of them uh are are entering into a space this fall where they're gathering others into your presence, and uh, and we thank you that it is a powerful thing when the church meets in homes and around tables and to go deeper and to grow in Christ's likeness, Lord God.

So I just thank you for every person who will connect in these groups that this is a season, that this is a time of explosive growth, of deepening of hearts, of connection of stories.

And we thank you, God, that you are so delighted when your kids form friendships with each other, when we're in each other's lives, and not just in each other's lives, but we're scheming together for how to be a blessing to our neighbors and communities and how to extend your love to others.

And so we thank you for this season.

We thank you for all of the groups that are starting and the ones that will start later.

And we thank you, God, that this is a time uh of increased growth and connection.

We love you, Jesus.

May your name be glorified in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Amen.

Can you thank these guys?

Thank these leaders.

Thank these leaders.

Take a mental note uh and and go track them down after the service, okay?

Um the other thing I'll mention before we get going is we're in the middle of a 21-day fast right now.

It's kind of different than a normal fast.

We're calling it an attention fast.

So a lot of us are uh that are a part of this fast have been minimizing uh other noise in our life, maybe other inputs like news or TV or social media or anything that you that competes for your attention and maybe shouldn't as much.

Um and uh in this last week, it's been cool getting devotionals every day from different people across the community with uh just different uh uh passages of scripture that help us to renew our minds in God's word.

If if you're not a part of the fast, if you haven't signed up to be part, but you still kind of want to squeak in about a third of the way through, it's totally fine.

We'd love for you to be a part.

And again, if you if you go to the website, the lookoutch dot church, and you can even just do slash fast.

You'll see a button, you can sign up for that, and what that'll do is you'll get some daily emails from people across the community.

And it's been really fun to see everybody contribute to that.

And uh, I know for myself it's it's been a it's been a time of I just feel faith rising in my heart even this last week.

I hope you that you do too.

Uh and it's something we're doing together.

So join us look at.church slash fast.

Sound good?

Yeah.

Awesome.

All right.

If you have your Bibles today, let's we're gonna start in Matthew chapter 20.

Matthew 20 · chapter mention

Matthew chapter 20.

Matthew 20 · chapter mention

Okay.

If you don't have a Bible, um, you can pick up one in our Connect Hub and in the front of the building.

Um, and we'd love to give you one as a gift.

Uh and we want to encourage you to bring your Bibles.

There's something about the fit a physical book to actually know where in the scriptures to find certain passages.

And it's there's something important and special about that.

If you don't have your Bible, we'll have it on the screen though, behind me as I read.

And so invite you to join along, okay?

So this is Matthew chapter 20.

Matthew 20 · chapter mention

We're gonna start in verse 20.

Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee came up to him with her sons and kneeling before him, she asked him for something.

And he said to her, What do you want?

She said to him, Say that these two sons of mine are to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left hand in your kingdom.

And Jesus answered, You do not know what you are asking.

Are you able to drink the cup that I am to drink?

And they said to him, We are able.

He said to them, You will drink my cup, but to sit at my right hand and my left hand is not mine to grant, but is for those to whom it has been prepared by my Father.

And when the ten heard it, they were indignant at the two brothers.

But Jesus called them to him and said, You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them.

It shall not be so among you.

But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, even as the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.

Let's pray.

Jesus, we thank you for your words today.

We thank you for your scriptures.

I thank you today as we share this space together.

That you would read us, God.

Just as we're reading this text, that you would read us.

That you would encounter us in our hearts, God.

Let us be open to your voice today as we listen.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.

So there is an ache in every human heart to know who we really are.

And and and as we talked about last week, one of the most pivotal questions of our day is that question, who are you?

And even more than that, I would say, there's this scrambling to answer the question, not just who am I, but how can I know who I am?

How is it that I actually discover who I am at my core?

And we want to know, the reason we ask those types of questions, whether consciously or unconsciously, is because we want to know that our lives matter.

We crave to know that our lives count for something greater, right?

And so one of the things that we started talking about last week was that there's this idea in our day that any identity that's given to us from the outside in that we didn't initially decide for ourselves is considered uh oppressive.

It's actually, you know, there's there's a lot of um talk right now of shedding off any particular identity or label given to us from the outside in.

And this is part of living in a secular age where God's not at the center.

We see authenticity as king, right?

And so in an age where we see authenticity as king of our lives, we what we do is we grant decisive authority of our identity to our inner feelings and are taught to be skeptical of any identity that comes from an outside influence, be it a nation, a family, tradition, gender, and especially faith and religion.

And we get this this whole way of thinking we've inherited from uh from a lot of different thinkers and different philosophers.

There's a lot of reasons why as a culture we we tend to think this way.

Some of it is uh we can attribute to Sigmund Freud, and he he brought the the the um he proposed that all neurosis is because of the existence of oppressed or repressed desire.

And so his his solution was we gotta shed everything off, pursue happiness at all costs, and that is the solution to um uh to neurosis.

And that's kind of building on some of the others who would say, like Karl Marx would he he had uh he had proposed that religion really at the end of the day is for the intellectually weak.

It's for those who can't think for themselves, and it's actually religion and faith are actually used by societies to control people and to keep people at bay and to uh uh and and really just to manipulate the people.

And that kind of builds on some French modernist thinking that says not only is religion oppressive, but all truth really is just a construct used to control people and to kind of keep us doing what the powers that be want us to do.

And it's not that there's not instances of that happening, uh, but if they're right, that leaves us in a conundrum because the scriptures teach exact exactly the opposite.

Jesus would even come and say uh that we are to know the truth, and it's in the knowing of truth that we are set free.

So Jesus proposed that truth is something that actually we can know, we can experience, that we can encounter.

Him as the person of truth, and he would even go on to model what that looks like to even for him to say, I actually do nothing except what my father asks me to do, or what he's given me to do, that he is actually on assignment.

He didn't just come deciding what to do, he came to fulfill the mission and desires of his very father, right?

And so, but but but part of what we have to reconcile in this huge question of coming into identity is contrasting it with some of the ideologies of our day.

Because if we're gonna follow some of that thinking of our day, then that means to achieve a level of happiness, inner peace, or an identity that you can be proud of, you're going to need to get there on your own.

You need to decide that who you are for yourself.

You must, it's on you, it's on your shoulders to make a name for yourself.

You gotta make a way for yourself, you gotta fight for it.

And if you're gonna be happy and achieve significance, is because you were the one who made it happen, right?

And so this is this is part of this way of living, this way of thinking that we have been brought into.

But at the end of the day, you know what that feels like when you have when you when you're taught that everything is up to you to decide who you are and then to seize that and to achieve that, what that leads to is utter and complete exhaustion.

It leads to exhaustion.

There are a lot of exhausted people, and maybe even in this room, you know what that feels like to work every day and to wake up every day thinking it is on me to achieve greatness today.

And what that does over time is it just leads to this chronic sense of fatigue.

And a lot of us can feel that.

In fact, marketers even appeal to that same fear, that craving to be known.

Henry Nowen says it like this He says, It is very hard to stay in touch with our true identity because those who want our money, our time, and our energy profit more from our insecurity and fears than from our inner freedom.

And so, what does that mean for us?

What that means for us is first of all, we have to we have to remind ourselves or of from where real identity comes from, and then we have to renew our minds in the source of that identity, and then from that place, it actually releases us to be the unique children of God He's called us to be, all wildly different.

In this room, we're not all the same, right?

We're wildly different, but the source, the source of identity comes from a settled place in who God is, okay?

So the passage that we read together is a funny one because we we get a snapshot.

It's it's it's the kind of passage that if you were making up the Bible, if you were writing this, is it like a fiction tale, you would leave this one out.

James and John would have later left this one out out of embarrassment because it doesn't paint them in the most enlightening picture.

All the other disciples were super like upset, frustrated, pretty embarrassed about their friends.

But we we get this picture of James and John.

They're asking the same question that we ask today, which is how do I make a name for myself?

How can I achieve significance in this world?

It's not new because there is a God-given desire.

I believe it's actually given from God to be great.

He has actually wired greatness inside of you.

He has given you a desire to know that you're significant.

That is a God-given craving, but meant to be fulfilled in him.

And and I think at its best, at its best, it's found in the Lord.

At its worst, at its very worst, I catch myself daydreaming about the days where I'm surrounded by servants just doing my bidding.

Okay?

Okay?

So when you think about your ideal vacation, just for a moment, you think about your ideal vacation, it's it's it's likely on a ship somewhere, on a yacht, on a beach, and you're laying on your side, somebody's feeding you grapes, right?

Like I don't even like grapes, I don't even eat grapes, but I want somebody to feed me grapes.

Somebody get me to a beach with somebody's only job is to feed me grapes while somebody else just kind of, you know, massages me on my shoulders and that kind of thing.

I I catch myself daydreaming about, oh man, the day where I'm surrounded by people obsessed with my will and my and my kingdom, right?

And you're laughing because you know that's you too, all right?

Don't act like you're better than me, okay?

This is a level playing ground here, all right?

We daydream about being served.

James and John were daydreaming, like this is our chance.

We know the guy, we know the king.

He is here, he is the messiah.

This is our chance.

And they so desire significance, they wanted their lives to mean something, they wanted a position of title that secured them once and for all in eternity.

They wanted their name sealed in the annals of history as the two men, the sons of thunder, who sat beside the king and reigned forevermore.

So, what did they do?

They sent their mom to talk to Jesus about it.

Mom, hey, mom, mom, do you think you could talk to Jesus?

We think he'll do what you say.

And so she goes over and she, you know, she does the puppy dog face, she does the whole thing.

She says, Well, you know, they've done a lot for you.

And and uh, you know, what do you think?

You throw them a bone, right?

Just the the right and the left hand side of God.

And and of course, you know, Jesus, he's trying to discern what they're actually asking.

And in a the most polite way possible, he has to tell her and them that you don't know what you're asking.

That you don't know what you are actually asking.

Can you drink the cup that I've been given to drink?

They're like, of course we can.

We drink it all the time.

No, no, no, no.

But can you drink the cup?

Can you receive the same assignment, the same mission that the Father's asked me to live out?

And so what's really interesting is he didn't rebuke them for their desire for greatness or for significance.

He actually redirected them on how exactly they're to find that.

And so, and so what we read is as he would gather back with his disciples, he had to reaffirm with them that his assignment was not to lord over, to assume a place of power in such a way that the Gentiles do, to lord it over, to domineer, to accumulate power and authority in the ways that the world does.

But he says his assignment was already decided upon.

It was to serve.

His co-mission was from the Father to not do what everyone else was doing, but to exercise a new kingdom that would not come through dominance, but would come through peace, from being the lowest of the low and from there on raising the world up.

And so Jesus had to reconfigure their understanding both of his assignment, who he was, and the nature of God, and by by by virtue of uh uh realigning them with what he was actually here to do, it actually realigned their identity from the inside out, because that's what our gospel identity is.

Our gospel identity doesn't start from my search for myself, it starts with what has God already, uh what has already been made possible in the Godhead, namely the Father and the Son and the Spirit.

In our search for identity, we don't start with who am I, we start with who is God and what has he done.

Who is God and what has he done?

And those are the two first questions we ask, who is God, what has he done?

And last week we talked about the Father, and this week we talk about the Son.

Who is God, what has he done?

And then in light of that, who are we, and then what then do we do we do?

So the world says to be great, you must find others to serve you.

But the word says, if you want to be great, you must become the servant of all.

The world says the humble are forgotten.

But the word says the humble are exalted.

The word says, make a name for yourself.

The word says you have been given a new name.

You don't have to go find a name for yourself, you've been given.

In a new name.

We've been baptized into the name of the Father and the Son and the Spirit, which means we inherit his blessing and his identity.

And so according to the scriptures, our identity doesn't start with self-discovery, it starts with God discovery.

Eugene Peterson said it like this: again, my identity does not begin when I begin to understand myself.

There is something previous to what I think about myself, and it is what God thinks of me.

All right?

So I just want to remind us, church, if you if you ever get caught in that feeling of who the heck am I?

And we all do from time to time.

The invitation is, God, give me a clear revelation of who you are and show me how to live in light of who you are.

Okay?

So Jesus, so this morning we're for a moment turning our spotlight to the Son, Jesus, the obedient son of God, who the prophet Isaiah called the suffering servant, who ruled not in hierarchical authority or the accumulation of power, but becoming a servant of all, namely through sacrificial love.

And he would over and over and over again have to repeat the same message to his disciples to remind them of the true nature of his kingdom so that they could go and do likewise.

John 13, we we get a picture at the Last Supper when he's with his disciples.

John 13, verse 12, it says that when he had washed their feet and put on his outer garment and resumed his place, he said to them, Do you understand what I have done to you?

John 13:12

You call me teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am.

If I then your Lord and teacher have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet.

And you can't get more clear than that.

This is like one of the last symbolic pieces.

He's summarizing for his guys, he's summarizing their entire time with them.

In one symbolic that they needed a visual picture to remember for for once and for all, and for believers of all ages to remember what it is that they've been called into.

So he bends down, he washes their feet, and he says, If you call me teacher and Lord, um I'm just telling you now, you also ought to do what I have done for you.

And so he, in doing so, he reverses this power structure.

He he he initiates this upside-down nature of the kingdom, and he washed their feet.

He washes our feet.

And I and I want to ask this morning, just before going any further, are you aware?

How conscious, how aware of you, are aware of you of how Jesus has washed your feet?

Is that something that you're aware of?

That Jesus as the servant that he has served you?

It's a it's a question that we have to enter into experiencely because until we understand beyond our intellect how we have actually been served by Jesus, our identities can't be transformed.

So many of us we stop too short.

So we read passages like this, and we're thankful, we're inspired.

Thank you, Jesus, for giving your life for us.

And then we kind of conclude, well, I guess I should probably do the same thing.

I mean, he died for me, right?

I suppose I should do more good things in my life, right?

And so sometimes it's easy to read these kinds of passages about the sacrificial nature of God's love and think about if something he did at one point in time.

And then from that, I guess I'm obligated to go and do some similar types of things, but it doesn't feel necessarily present that I have been served by God, right?

Sometimes it's hard to understand the saving grace of God.

I I came across this meme recently of Jesus knocking on a door and he says, He says, Let me in.

And the person behind there says, Why?

He says, so I can save you.

They say, from what?

From what I'm going to do to you if you don't let me in.

This is what so many of us actually think of Jesus.

It's like, well, I I guess I better serve you because you died for me.

So what choice do I have?

I guess I'll give my life to you because you saved the whole world.

So it feels like this.

I didn't really kind of get a choice in this whole thing.

I guess I'll let you in because if not, something bad is going to happen.

I guess I'm going to let you down.

And I'm saying, um, unless we unless we are led into an encounter where we can see how Jesus has actually stooped down and for each and every one of us that he takes our feet into his hands, the feet that he made and that he knows, and he gently washes off the dirt and the grime that has been collected over time, both physically and metaphorically or figuratively speaking, he washes our feet.

We'll never be able to enter into a service that comes from an overflow of heart.

It will always just be an obligation.

And I was reflecting on this this week.

It was like, God, remind me of all the ways that you've served me.

And certainly I can say, thank you, thank you, Jesus, for taking away my sin.

Of course, we should start there.

He has given his body as the sacrificial Lamb of God.

He's taken away the sins of the world, yours and mine included.

But I was thinking even beyond that presently, God, how do I experience the way that you serve me?

And I was reminded of his patience with me.

He's so patient.

When I am slow to learn, he is so patient.

He forgives me.

He he knows where I'm broken, he knows where I fall short.

He knows where I fall short in my walk with him.

He knows where I fall short in my marriage and my parenting and loving people well.

And he's there to forgive me.

I feel forgiven on a daily basis.

Thank you, God, for your forgiveness.

He serves me because he's been a faithful friend to me.

I feel the friendship of God in a way where over years I've had a lot of friendships change or move, some in painful ways, some in understandable ways, but a lot of community move.

And I've just been reflecting this week.

Thank you, Jesus, that you've served me as a faithful friend.

You're not just that you don't serve me in an abstract way, but you you befriend me.

You speak to me, you whisper to my heart, your presence is with me.

And you like to catch up on the day.

And not just on the high point spiritual things of the day.

You like to catch up on the day, just like a good friend would.

God, I thank you that you serve me by teaching me the scriptures.

When I'm in the scriptures, you illuminate them to me.

You show me yourself in the scriptures.

I thank you that you serve me because you're kind, you're encouraging.

You honor me when I don't deserve to be honored.

You esteem me.

And when you esteem me, you help me esteem myself.

You help me treat myself the way that you treat me.

And these are just simple ways that I was just reflecting this sweet God.

I just I just felt like there was such a strong invitation that the Lord wants each and every one of us to see that I didn't just serve you at one point in time, but I continue to serve you.

I wash your feet because I'm calling you to join me in that work.

I want you to esteem others in the same way that I esteem you.

Because if we have been served by Jesus, if we can in this room just catch a glimpse that you've actually been served by Jesus, then our identity and our joy is now to do the same for others.

We don't do so as slaves, though, we do so as friends of God.

And Jesus would pick up on this theme in John chapter 15.

John 15 · chapter mention

He brings this home and this idea of servanthood and friendship.

Here's what he says in John chapter 15.

John 15 · chapter mention

He says, My this is my commandment that you love one another as I have loved you.

Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.

You are my friends if you do what I command you.

No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing, but I have called you friends.

For all that I have heard from my father, I have made known to you.

And so this is a kind of an interesting passage because he he says, I don't call you servants, I call you friends.

But the the Greek word he's using, doos it, it has to do with this involuntary servitude.

He's calling him out of the sense of slavery and obligation.

He's like, I'm no no longer are you uh compelled, or you know, I'm trying to get you to be compliant or just do a religious duty.

I'm not calling you that kind of servant anymore.

You need to understand, I call you friends.

And it's out of the friendship with God that we are no longer involuntary slaves, but now we are voluntarily joining him out of the joy in our heart to be where he is and to do what he's doing.

That's why even Paul would later say, I am a servant of God, and he's not talking about entering back into slavery.

He's talking about out of the overflow of friendship with God, it is my joy and my honor to get low and to go and to serve the least of these wherever I go.

That's what it means to be a friend of God.

And here's what Bill Johnson said.

He he worded this perfectly.

He says, royalty is my identity, servanthood is my assignment, and intimacy with God is my life source.

Royalty is my identity, and out of royalty, servanthood is my assignment, and intimacy with God is my life source.

And that's what God has done with us.

He's in He's served us and He's invited us into friendship with Him.

And out of friendship, friendship changes everything about how we see ourselves.

When you see yourself as a friend of God, and we're co-laboring with Him as our older brother, firstborn of creation.

He's our older brother in the faith, in the kingdom of God.

We co-labor with him to find the ones he's serving.

And so that's what we do.

That's that revelation of God as the suffering servant, the one who came not to dominate, but to lift up the world, when we get a clear picture of that revelation, it changes on a core level who we are, because now we're sibling servants of God.

And this is the identity he's given to us.

Philippians 2 says this.

So if there's any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.

Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility, count others more significant than yourself.

Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.

See, even for Paul, when he's framing in this invitation to humility and servitude, he doesn't start there.

He starts with if you have, if you've seen anything good in him, if you have been affected by the love of God, if you have been affected in your belovedness or your friendship, if you've received any encouragement from that, then join me.

And being like Christ and considering others better than yourself, considering the interests of others.

And so that's why it's our joy, our our chief identity.

We're many different things in the body of Christ.

We're not all the same, and we haven't been given the same assignment.

But in Christ, the core identity that we walk each step with in this world is as servants, friends and servants of the King.

We are called to lay down our life to the degree that he has laid down.

And so what does that look like?

It means that we look for the least when we step foot into a room.

As friends of God, we're not looking for the brightest and the best to associate with.

We look for the least.

We look for the marginalized, the ones who are forgotten, the ones who are unseen.

When we come into church, we're not looking just yeah, we're friends with a lot of people, but we're not just looking for the happiest, best looking power couple or whatever.

We are our eyes are open to say, God, who in this room needs to know that they are also a friend of God?

Who in this room needs to be seen and loved today?

Who are the unwantables and how do we serve them?

This is not just about this room, this is in your work.

This is this is in the places God sends you that He has sent you to serve even in your work.

Yeah, hopefully you're getting paid for what you do.

But even in your paid labor, your primary identity is as a servant of a king, not just as an employer of an employee.

You don't work for your boss, you work for Jesus.

That is your primary identity.

So that means if uh if if if if you're selling homes, if you're a realtor and you're selling homes, you're not primarily concerned with closing the deal.

You're concerned with helping the homeowner, the home buyer make the best possible decision that's going to set them up for a life of peace and joy and non-anxious, a non-anxious future.

You are trying to serve them well.

If you're a nurse, you're you're not just making your rounds.

You are serving, you're serving your patients well.

You're caring for them to such a high degree.

All of us, we we we we look for an opportunity to go low, to not just work for our bosses, but we work for Jesus.

We serve the least and we champion others.

I love in this room that even right now, there's people who have given their lives to serve the least and the lost.

In a couple weeks, you're gonna hear a little bit from a story from Amigos of Mexico and Mike and Nancy Jeanette.

We were gonna do it today, it just didn't make sense, didn't have, uh weren't able to do it today.

But you're gonna hear about some updates from what's happening in Mexico as a church, how we've been able to serve some specific people groups in Mexico.

But Mike and Nancy Jeanette have been doing this for 30 years.

They have been giving themselves to to children, to youths all across Mexico.

And they're still going, they're still fighting for it.

We keep telling them to stop, and they keep going.

I'm joking, I'm joking.

And so we'll have some stories to share on that, but they they they've given themselves to it.

My friend Chris is here, who is in Costa Rica, he's visiting here.

He's actually Chris is actually uh here 30 years ago when they were building this building.

He actually told me stories of being underneath the foundation and actually uh uh helping in the construction of this room here 30 years ago.

But Chris is a great friend, he's doing some fantastic work in San Jose, Costa Rica.

And um uh I don't know if this is appropriate to share or not, but he he he graduated from heart, he graduated with an MBA from Harvard University, and then the Lord redirected his life to go serve inner city kids in San Jose.

They planted a church there and founded an organization called Funda Vida that still is there to resource and to bring after school programs to to under-resourced kids in San Jose.

They're learning computers, they're learning robotics, they're actually winning awards and championships and competitions because of what they've been taught.

And and he's given himself, and it on a on a surface level, it makes absolutely no sense to be among the most powerful um uh uh people in the United States as far as uh making their way through academia, master's in business from Harvard, and then all of a sudden uh pivoting to go serve the underreach people in uh in San Jose, Costa Rica.

It makes absolutely no sense unless you have a person that has connected with the revelation that I have been served, that Jesus has washed my feet, and I have no other choice but to be yielded and say yes to whatever he asks me to do in my life.

So I bless you, Chris.

We bless you, man.

We bless you.

And and the stories go on and on.

Some of you know Marcia Sue's story down in in Wellspring.

Marsha Sue, she runs our Wellspring Food and Clothing Bank, and uh and she's been doing it for a long time now.

Um and a lot of you guys love Marsha Sue.

What many of you don't know is that the reason that she runs that ministry is because uh probably 15, 20 years ago, she actually went through a horrible family split.

Her husband had left her, and she was left with herself and and all of her kids to fend for themselves.

And during that time, she showed up in need to wellspring, to receive food and clothing, because that was the only place that she could go.

And she went there and she received help, she received kindness and compassion.

She ended up getting integrated into the community, and now it's the joy of her heart to give herself day after day after day.

And again, with her, we keep telling her to stop, but she won't.

She's stubborn because she has been served, she's been the recipient of a great gift, not only from this church, but from God.

She was honored and she was dignified in a time where she felt the lowest of the low.

And now we're honored to call her our leader of our food and clothing bank that is actually delivering food all across the region.

It's one of the only food banks that actually delivers food, custom meals to people all across the region.

I could go story after story across the stream.

Those are all big examples of serving, most of which, though, aren't the actual reality for most of us in our day-to-day lives.

And I just want to remind us that when it comes to taking on the attitude of a servant, it doesn't start with moving to Costa Rica or planning a next trip to Mexico or selling your home.

It starts with, God, what have you given me today?

Who is one person that I can esteem in a higher degree now because of the way that you've esteemed me?

How can I show, speak one word of kindness?

How can I treat my coworkers with more dignity than I did the day before?

How can I find opportunities to serve the ones who are overlooked in a way that I wasn't doing before because I'm aware of the depth of love that you that has been expressed in me in the person of Christ Jesus?

It doesn't start with huge things, like Mother Teresa says, it's small things done with great love.

It's the life of a servant, small things done with great love.

But it's pretty amazing what happens when you keep saying yes to Jesus, though.

Some of us in the church, we gotta get out of this volunteer language.

We don't volunteer for Jesus.

Just stop.

We don't do him favors.

Okay, I guess I'll do a little bit more this week.

I mean, you did die for me.

I mean, no, no, we don't do Jesus favor.

We serve, we serve God.

Sometimes he doesn't ask us our permission.

He drafts us into his service.

Okay?

We don't always volunteer.

Our identity has been shifted from the inside out.

The question isn't what how are you going to serve Jesus?

Isn't if you were going to serve Jesus, it's God, what is your assignment for me in this particular season?

What is the work that you have given me to do?

Who is it that you have uniquely sent me to to serve to the degree that you have served me?

Can you imagine what happens if all of us are leaving this room as laid-down servants, looking everybody in the eyes just after just what God, what can I do to call out the gold inside of them?

Because everybody lifts.

One of the things I love about Coach Prime down the road, um, and the CU buffs, if you guys have been following this story, no matter what you think of Coach Prime or not, one of the things I love about him is that his heart is to empower and change the lives of young men, particularly young black men in universities.

And he started at Jackson's State, and he's here now and he's doing the same thing.

But have you noticed that even after a few games with CU and they're winning, um, that it's not just him that's winning, it's not just the young men that are winning at football and life, but the entire city is starting to win.

There is an excellence that the thing is, when you give yourselves to elevate the people that God has called you to elevate, it's not just about you or them.

Everything lifts up, everything arises when you say yes to the call of God in your life.

Everything starts to lift.

And I believe God's sent him here for this time and this reason.

He's a picture of us of what it means to be sown into the city, unashamed of the I'm sorry about lifting people up and seeing the entire city freaking in the vicinity.

And he doesn't care what you think about him.

He doesn't care.

He doesn't care.

He knows what he's here for.

And it's not just about him.

I love that.

I'm excited to see where that goes.

But here's my prayer with that.

God, may it be true of us too.

May it be true of us that we are looking, God, what have you who have you called us to say yes to?

Let us be unashamed and bold and give our lives relentlessly with excellence, with clarity of focus, with prayerfulness, with humility, to see each other rise to the full strength and potential of who they are in the kingdom of God.

Come on.

So this morning, the reminder here, our gospel identity.

If you're looking for identity, look no further.

God has shown you in himself who he is, how he has affected you through his work, and now who we are.

And so just like he has been revealed as the Father, which makes us sons and daughters, he's revealed as the servant king, which makes us sibling servants, which we're doing a lot of things, but primarily we are living and walking this earth.

And it is our joy at our friendship with God to do what he's doing to serve him.

And I blessed you in that across the stream.

I blessed you as a servant of God.

And if you don't know Jesus in that way, I encourage you to know Jesus, that Jesus isn't here to get you to do things for him.

He is here to wash your feet.

He's here to show you a depth of love that you don't deserve, but he's willing to offer that to you.

And I, if you don't know Jesus, today is your day.

You need to know him.

You need to know him.

You need to know the depth of the love.

It will change everything about how you see yourself and how you see your role in this world.

It'll change everything.

So this morning, what I want to do is end with a time of communion together, thanking Jesus, remembering the cross of Jesus, remembering that he did not just do us a favor, he came in fleshly form.

He emptied himself out.

He went to the cross as the ultimate um the ultimate symbol of love.

He could have asked us to handle it on our own.

You got yourself into this mess, you guys figure it out.

He did not do that.

He came and he came the lowest of the low of the low, humiliated, nailed on a cross naked, because of the systems of death and corruption, because of the accumulation of power.

And he said, I'm not giving into that system, I will overcome that system.

He overcame sin and death through his blood and his body.

This is how we know, this is why our lives are changed.

So this morning, I just want to encourage you.

I just want to invite you across the room.

There's two tables on each side.

And uh I want to invite you just to come forward and form lines and just take the elements.

It's a pre-packaged uh little thing.

Just take it and bring it back to your chair, and together we're going to receive communion together.

So let's all stand and uh come to the tables, get your elements and bring it back to your chair.

So as we hold our cups in front of us, I just want to read from the scripture again.

As Jesus was with his disciples, says now as they were eating, Jesus took the bread and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples and said, Take, eat.

This is my body.

So let's partake of the bread together and receive the body of Christ broken for us.

And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, Drink of it all of you, for this is the blood of my covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.

I tell you, I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it with you in my Father's kingdom.

So, God, as we receive the cup together, as we receive the wine, we thank you that your blood was poured out for us.

And we have been renewed in our being.

We've been renewed in our identity.

That we are recipients of the great gift of mercy.

So, God, as we receive the cup together, we thank you for cleansing in all righteousness, purity of hearts, the forgiveness of sins.

That we can walk wholly before you and do as you did.

Let's take the cup together.

Thank you, God.

Now let's stand.

As we leave, we're leaving as servants of Jesus, joyful, bright eyed, chomping at the bit, frothing at the mouth, looking for people to love.

Voracious lions.

Frothing is not a great word to end a sermon with, but we go out and joy.

This is what we get to do.

And before we head out, there's a few things this morning uh just to remind you of first of all, we're gonna have a prayer ministry team up front.

Anybody with a purple badge that you see, if you'd like prayer for anything, including prayer over physical conditions.

Even this morning I was praying in the sense that there may be somebody that had neck problems or either broken neck or collarbone, something happening in your neck, if that's you, come up front and get some prayer for that.

Um, we believe that God heals and he wants to heal.

And so we have faith for that.

Um, as as you're going out, you're gonna see a sign in the back that says connect with us.

If you're newer to the community and you want to meet some people and kind of get a lay of the land, follow the sign that says connect with us in the back.

We're gonna take you to our connect hub and and we'll uh we'll help you um um uh meet some of the pastors and and get a feel for what's happening around here.

The prayer room is open on the third floor if you guys want to go visit the prayer room and spend some time with the Lord.

And and as always, just invite you to get your kids immediately after the service, bring them back up for conversation.

But I want to bless you this morning as we go.

Um may the Lord bless you and keep you, may He make his face to shine upon you.

May He be gracious to you and give you rest.

Blessings go in the peace of the strength of the kingdom of God.

Love you guys.