August 9 "Answer the Call!" (Mark 9:30-41)

Mark chapter 9.

Mark 9 · chapter mention

I want to talk to you today about answering the call.

Answering the call is the title of my message out of Mark chapter 9.

Mark 9 · chapter mention

How do we view phone calls?

How do you view phone calls?

What's your view of when you get a phone call?

It's kind of changed throughout our culture in the last few decades.

You remember back to the 50s and 60s where you'd get a phone call and uh man, it was it was a very business-like transaction.

It was about setting appointments, it was about getting information, it was about important communication.

It was almost an event when there was a phone call back in that decade.

Fast forward to the 70s and 80s, and it became more of a social interaction.

And yes, young people, we used to have phones mounted on the wall, and you used to have to turn that rotor around.

And Lord help you if you had a lot of nines in the phone number, it had to go all the way back.

And you see that phone cord stretched out there.

I can remember we had one, and I think that might have been the color of our appliances too in the 70s.

I don't know if they were either that or green, but uh, you know, we had that phone cord wrapped around my brother and my sister, who were a little bit older than me, uh, just carrying that thing all around the house.

That thing would get all twisted and mangled and tangled.

And that was when the phone became more of a social deal.

You wanted to talk on the phone.

Parents had to limit time teenagers could talk on the phone every now and then because it was important social business.

Then you go on into the 90s, and people that were really important got to carry around one of these bricks.

And uh this that early cell phone.

I had a couple guys I went to college with that worked for a service that actually would take organs, like when somebody was getting an organ transplant, they would take the cooler.

It looked like a little igloo cooler.

And uh when they when that phone they were carrying that, when that rang, that was important business.

And if you had a job where you had to be gotten a hold of, you know, you had that phone, and hey, there's something important going on when I get this call on my big brick.

Fast forward to the 2000s, we began to carry these flip phones and things, and that's probably when the phone calls began to be a little bit more of a distraction and an interruption and maybe even an annoyance.

We started texting some and things like that, and uh, so it began to where people would kind of kind of avoid some of those phone calls through that era, and then you get to the point now where we're all carrying around these smartphones and we don't want those calls, so we all silence our phones.

And I hope if you haven't done that yet, you would take the opportunity to do so now.

And so, why do we do that?

Because it's an interruption.

We don't want that phone call.

It's distracting me from what I'm doing right now.

What happens to me?

I'll carry my phone around on silent all the time, and then I get a screen that looks like this misscall, misscall, misscall, misscall.

People are trying to get a hold of me, and I didn't hear it because I didn't want the interruptions.

One of the greatest innovations for me is this next picture when you see this on your screen.

Now it's the best, and it's the worst.

It's the best because I know I don't need to answer that call and I can just dismiss it on my watch right there.

It's the worst because I had to stop what I was doing to see some telemarketers trying to get a hold of me and that kind of thing.

And we all don't want the distractions of the telemarketers.

And uh somebody, somebody told me after the first service they said the way they get rid of telemarketers, they answer the phone sheriff's office, and that just takes care of it.

And so that's how we have kind of viewed the evolution of phone calls down through.

Now, I read this article about the current state, and I just want to read you just a very brief passage from this article that you're gonna see on the screen there.

It says phone calls are fast becoming a relic of the past.

Over a quarter of Gen Z, 26%, say they actively shirk speaking to people on the phone.

Actively.

They actively avoid it.

New research released, I can't say that.

New research released revealed almost a third, 32% of Gen Z will rarely make a phone call.

20% of them finding it weird when they receive a call.

Don't call me, that's weird.

Uh lost my place.

One of those surveyed, 36% admit they would only make a call to locate their friends on a night out, and around one in five would only make a voice call in an emergency.

In 2018, millennials were surveyed, found that 75% of those respondents said they ignored calls because they're time consuming.

64% wanted to avoid someone needy, and nearly half were avoiding uh being asked for favors.

Hey, will you help me move?

You know, they're not gonna answer that call.

Another survey suggests that Gen Z respondents report feeling anxious about talking on the phone.

Does it make you anxious about talking on the phone?

And so that's how we, the view of phone calls has uh uh changed through several generations, through several decades.

And so how do we feel about them now?

Well, I don't want to want to talk about those kind of phone calls.

I want to talk to you about how you feel about another kind of call.

And that's how do you feel when you're receiving a call from God?

How does that make you feel?

Now, honestly, we don't have a hotline from God or a phone carry, and wouldn't that be nice if we could specifically hear from God and say, here's what I want you to do, here's when I want you to do it, here's how I want you to do it, and we wouldn't have to wonder.

Well, we don't have that, but we do have the Holy Spirit.

We have leadership and guidance of the Holy Spirit.

If we're a believer, he indwells us, and so we get those subtle promptings from God, don't we?

And we get calls on our life from God.

I feel like God is calling me to do this, and those are some specific calls that sometimes we can we can wholeheartedly follow, and sometimes we miss them altogether.

Sometimes we're too distracted.

Sometimes we're we're busy and it's is it an interruption.

I can't take time to do what God's prompting me to do right now.

That interrupts my busyness.

We're so so busy with our own affairs or our own entertainment many times that we miss a lot of those calls from the creator of the universe that Genesis speaks about that spoke us into existence.

And so we're constantly distracted from following after the call of God.

Now, we might miss some of those specific promptings from the Lord, and sometimes even with the best intentions, we just miss his leadership and guidance.

But you know, there are some general aspects of a call from God that I want to talk about today that none of us need to miss.

General call that Christ is giving us.

I want to talk about three aspects of a general call from Jesus to all of us and some things that will hinder us from answering those calls or that call.

Let's look in Mark chapter 9, verse 30.

Mark 9:30

He says, They went on from there talking about Jesus and the disciples, and uh through Gal, they passed through Galilee, and he did not want anyone to know, for he was teaching his disciples.

So here they are, they're traveling.

They'd just come from the site where some of them had been privy to the scene on the Mount of Transfiguration.

Then they'd seen uh Jesus, as Jeff preached about last week, uh, cast out the evil spirit out of the boy and interact with that boy's father.

They're witnessing all this, and then they're going on to the next phase.

They're traveling along.

Jesus didn't want anyone to know where they were traveling.

He wanted to kind of go in secret.

Some say, you know, because his time wasn't yet, and those are some other passages in the Bible you see that this was more likely because he wanted to spend some private time teaching the disciples.

You know, there's always a lot of crowds pressing, and he was growing in popularity, all the miracles were happening, and so there's a crowd of people following after him.

He kind of wanted to get away from that, to have some devoted focused teaching time with the inner circle, those 12 of his disciples.

And he's going to try to teach them some pretty intense lessons.

Verse 31, he was teaching his disciples, saying to them, the Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill him.

And when he is killed, after three days, he will rise.

So this is the second time Jesus is predicting these events to the disciples, predicting his own death and his resurrection.

And just like last time, they're slow to get it.

They didn't get it then, they don't get it now.

Verse 32, they did not understand the saying.

And they were afraid to ask him.

So, what Jesus is telling them here when he says, Look, I'm going to be killed.

I'm going to be delivered into the hands of men, and they are going to kill me.

I'm going to raise again after three days.

He is telling them the starting point essentials of the gospel.

That's the starting point of belief.

If you are going to say, I believe, I believe, that this gospel truth will prevail, just like we just sang, that's the starting point.

You believe that he was delivered in the hands of men, that he died for the sins of the world, that he took on my sin and your sin, and he satisfied the wrath of God.

And now he can give forgiveness for those sins because God's wrath has been satisfied.

He justifies us because of our faith in his atoning work on the cross and his death.

And we believe he can do it because he had the power to raise himself from the dead after three days.

That's the starting point of the gospel, folks.

That's where it all begins.

That's proclaimed throughout Scripture.

John 3 16, people call it the gospel in a nutshell.

And what does it say?

God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him shall not perish, but have everlasting life.

And so that's the gospel in a nutshell.

That's what he's telling the disciples.

1 Corinthians 15 shows us how this just permeates throughout the Bible.

Four verses in 1 Corinthians 15.

Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preach to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are saved, if you hold fast to the word that I preach to you, unless you believed in vain.

And here it is, for I delivered to you as of first importance.

You get that?

The starting point.

First importance, what I also received.

That Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scripture, and that he was buried, that he raised from the dead after three days, in accordance with the scripture, or on the third day.

And so this is the gospel that Jesus is giving the disciples.

He's foreshadowing a call to every person that he makes on our lives to believe that gospel.

And that's the first aspect I want us to see here is that Jesus is calling us to believe the gospel.

That's the starting point of his call on your life.

To simply believe what he said.

That he is who he says he is, that he did what he said he did, that you read it in the scriptures and you place your faith and trust in that even today.

That call comes to each and every one of us.

And I just want to ask you plainly have you received it?

Is that a missed call in your spiritual life?

Are you willing to receive it?

And are you willing to believe it?

The gospel as the way of salvation.

That the fact I can do nothing to save myself.

The Bible says our righteousnesses are as filthy rags in Isaiah.

I don't want to get ahead of myself.

I'm not sure if I was going to read that yet or not, but the point is to say that the disciples didn't understand and they were afraid to ask.

It's sort of like the man that said, Lord, I believe.

Will you help my unbelief?

And they get a bad rap.

Maybe, maybe they deserve it.

But think about this even though they witnessed all the miracles and they were around everything, they still hadn't seen the end of the story like we can read for ourselves.

And so us having the end of the story, having the luxury of knowing that story, what is our excuse?

Why don't we believe the gospel?

Why don't we believe that that's the only way that can save us?

That sometimes I think one of the hindrances is we want to rely on our own power.

We think we can save ourselves.

We think we can do enough.

We know and we believe that Jesus died on the cross.

We might even believe in his incredible love for us, but do we really trust that that's the only plan that will save us?

I think sometimes we might want to rather rely on our own ability for our good to outweigh our bad.

That's kind of the most common thing.

Well, I hope I'm going to heaven.

I just try to do enough good that, you know, that the Lord will take me into heaven.

And that's kind of what we rely on.

We used to say that's kind of a works answer.

I can just do enough, I can be good enough to say, to get saved and to enter into heaven.

We might rely on the things we do in the name of God and serving in the church.

Well, hey, man, I go to church every Sunday and I teach this class or I serve this way.

And we might rely on what we can do to earn our salvation.

We might rely on the fact that maybe I can give enough that I can earn God's favor.

All of these things distract us from what is really true and the basis of being saved, and that's believing the gospel.

And we need to know, as I said in Isaiah 6, whatever we can do amounts to nothing.

The Bible says all of our righteousness or the good things we can do are as filthy rags.

Only placing our trust in the gospel by grace alone, by faith alone, as the way to salvation will make us righteous in the eyes of God.

Listen to Romans 4, verse 5.

Romans 4:5

And to the one who does not work, but believes in him who justifies the ungodly.

His faith is counted as righteousness.

Do you believe the gospel as the only way to salvation?

Jesus calls us to faith in the gospel.

And let me tell you, if if you haven't placed your faith and trust in that as the only way to save you, you don't have to leave here today without nailing that down.

It just takes faith and trust and belief in the fact that you know what?

Jesus paid the price for my salvation.

He died on the cross for my sin.

He satisfied God's wrath against sin and God's holiness.

And if I'll place my faith and trust in Him and Him alone to save me, He will do it.

He will forgive my sin.

He will welcome me into His this life, this abundant life, and He will assure me of eternity in heaven because He rose from the dead to conquer death in the grave for all time.

And that's the starting point.

If you haven't really, really believed that, today is your call.

Jesus is calling you to believe the gospel.

It's the only way to abundant life.

There's a second aspect of Jesus' call to all of us.

Here, Jesus has just told them how he was going to humbly submit himself to death.

And let's see what's going on in their minds.

Verse 33.

They came to Capernaum.

And when he was in the house, he asked them, What were you discussing on the way?

But they kept silent.

Why?

For on the way, they had argued with one another about who was the greatest.

Just after Jesus was challenging them with the teaching that he was going to humbly submit himself to death on the cross, they are demonstrating through this argument anything but humility.

Which one of us is going to have the most prominent place?

And so think about it.

No doubt, probably Peter and James and John thought they had the inside track.

You know, they were the three that had just been on the Mount of Transfiguration and saw Jesus revealed in all of his glory and saw Moses and Elijah and that whole terrific scene and probably frightening scene.

And said, Yeah, I mean, he took us there to see that.

Surely we're going to have the most prominent place.

They had other occasions where they were the three that kind of Jesus took with them when he went into the house to raise the little girl from the dead.

It was Peter, James, and John that got to be with him.

So they might be thinking, Well, it's got to be one of us.

We got to be one, two, and three for sure.

But then the others might be thinking, well, wait a minute.

While you were off doing that with Jesus doing who knows what, we were out here actually doing the work.

So it's probably us that are going to have the more prominent roles.

We're going to be more important.

We were actually doing the work of the ministry.

Whatever the case may be, they were missing the entire point of what Jesus was trying to teach.

Why were the disciples doing this?

I don't think we can, we need to cut them a little slack.

Because I think deep down in each and every one of our hearts, we all crave significance, don't we?

We all like to be recognized.

We can say, hey, I'll I'll, you know, I don't do it for I don't do it for the recognition or da-da-da-da.

But but we have we have a desire to be recognized.

Um I grew up in a in a kind of a even though I was in Cleveland, Ohio, we were all transplanted from West Virginia in the middle of Cleveland, Ohio, in the church I grew up in, and we would go to other churches when we'd go visit relatives and things like that, and you and you see the person come in like with a big songbook in their hand and carrying a guitar.

And the preacher, you know, they'd say, hey, brother so-and-so, you got a song for us today?

No, I didn't come to sing.

Carrying their guitar in their songbook, you know.

They're trying that false humility.

They really kind of wanted the recognition.

All of us are kind of like that, aren't we?

We want to be recognized for what we do.

And I think this is what's being revealed in the disciples.

It's interesting that they didn't tell Jesus what they were what they were arguing about.

They kept their silence, it said the Bible says.

But Jesus reveals his deity.

He was God, he knew what they were talking about, he reveals his omniscience because he in verse 35, and he sat down and he called the twelve.

And here he reveals he knows what they were discussing.

And he said to them, If anyone would be first, he must be last of all, and the servant of all.

And so when the rabbis would teach, they didn't stand up at a lecture and lecture with the whiteboard behind them.

No, they they sat down and they gathered those peoples around them, and that's when they did their big teaching about the law and the Torah and trained their disciples, whatever they were teaching.

And so Jesus kind of sits down and it kind of signifies to everybody, hey, listen, what I'm getting ready to tell you is important.

This is a key, this is a call I'm placing on your life.

If anyone wants to be first, he must be last of all and servant of all.

And that's the teaching he gave them.

And so Jesus is issuing this same call to each and every one of us today.

He's calling us all to be servants for the sake of the gospel.

Not only to believe the gospel, that he died, that he rose again for our salvation, but that we must be a servant for the sake of the gospel.

We've got to follow his example.

That's the call he's placing on all of us.

And it's kind of a paradoxical truth that just characterizes a lot of Jesus' teaching.

You think about all these opposite statements.

Do you want significance?

Then make yourself humble.

He said, Do you want to live, then you have to die.

Do you want to save your life?

You must lose it.

Do you want to experience glory?

You have to suffer.

Do you want to be first?

You have to be last and servant of all.

Do you want to be great?

Make yourself as a humble servant.

And if you think about it, that's the only way that really makes sense.

For Jesus to fulfill his mission, what did he have to do?

He had to humble himself even to death on a cross.

He served the Father in that.

He made himself of no reputation, the Bible says.

This is the ultimate way.

So if we are going to follow after him and be his disciple, then we must humble ourselves in the same way.

This is what he's saying.

Jeff talked about this a few weeks ago when he talked about the demands of discipleship.

And we have a hard time again because what do we crave?

We crave significance.

We crave recognition.

I can't remember the source where I read this, but I've read this in a book.

It might have been the book called Worship Matters by Bob Coughlin.

I'm not sure of that.

But it's just an illustration of a young Christian who goes to this big prominent worship leader of a large ministry.

And he says, Hey, I want, I want to help.

I want to volunteer.

I want to serve with you in this worship ministry.

And this worship leader says, Okay, great, you come Wednesday.

Come a few minutes early for rehearsal Wednesday.

And so this young man thinks, okay, man, I'm gonna get to play the guitar, I might get to sing, I might get to write songs, you know.

Well, I'm gonna I'm gonna meet with him, I'm gonna get involved in this.

And so he gets there early on Wednesday and he takes him up to the sound booth and introduces them to tech crew.

And the young man spent the next several weeks carrying around sound equipment and rolling up cables and storing them and bringing water to all the singers and never gotten near the stage.

And so, what is this worship leader teaching him?

That if you're going to get in the spotlight, you've got to be willing to serve.

And so that's a big statement I want us to remember here today.

And that is the fact that if we are going to be used in the spotlight, we have to be willing to work behind the scenes to serve others.

This is the call on our life.

Now, I'll tell you, I love standing up here and leading songs.

You guys know I love what I do.

You could see me during the worship.

I can't hardly stand still.

I just love it.

I love getting up here to I love preaching.

I love having this opportunity.

I appreciate every time Jeff gives me this opportunity.

I love doing it.

But can I tell you that most weeks I spend much, much more time.

Probably 90% of my time is not preparing to do this or doing this.

90% is on the phone with plumbers and HVAC repairmen about what's going on and needs to be repaired in the church.

And sometimes it's even mopping up overflowing toilets.

I think I told y'all this uh a few months ago.

We had a backup in the septic system, and toilets were overflowing.

They came and they jet through that big septic pike, and 12 rubber ducks flowed out of that.

Somebody had flushed 12 rubber ducts down our toilets.

Who knows?

And so most of the time is spent in things like that.

And if I'm not willing to get my clothes dirty, I'm not fit to stand up here and do what I'm doing right now.

And all of us are the same.

If you're not willing to be used behind the scenes and work to serve others, I doubt if we'll ever have significant upfront ministry for God.

And so, how does Jesus illustrate this?

Look at verse 36.

And he took a child and he put him in the midst of them.

And taking him in his arms, he said, Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me.

And whoever receives me receives not me, but him who sent me.

So it's interesting.

Some of the scholars that write about this passage think that this could have been Peter's house where they went.

It says they went to Comperdium, and when they came into the house, they think that could have been Peter's house.

That was sort of a ministry base when they were in that region where they would go and regroup and things like that.

And so this child that Jesus took up may just have been one of Peter's kids.

And quite honestly, could have been a very small child, a toddler or even an infant.

And so Jesus taking up this little child in his arms, he's saying to them, This is what you need to be like.

Now it's interesting.

Jesus was speaking Aramaic.

Now, this is not the language the Bible was written in, but it's it's the it's the language they were speaking among themselves when we read these stories.

And and one scholar said this as I read, he said, There is a word in Aramaic that can be used interchangeably for child and servant.

And so what's Jesus?

He's just said, you got to become a servant.

Just like this little one right here.

Now in the ancient world, it was very common that children uh would experience uh death at a at a much higher rate than what we're used to now.

It's it's a it's a a tragic and odd event now when we see a little baby or a little toddler pass away.

Not so much back then in the ancient world.

They didn't have all the modern medical advances, and so the slightest sickness, and it could be devastating.

And so now we don't believe this.

Trust me, we we believe in the sanctity of life, and we believe every life is created by God and it's significant.

But in this culture, sometimes those little babies didn't really have much significance at all as a person until they would reach a viable age because of this uh this mortality rate.

Jesus is saying, Do you want to know what I mean by being a servant?

Look no further than this helpless, little, vulnerable child.

The most humanly speaking, insignificant, helpless, vulnerable person is who Jesus is declaring to be his best messenger.

This servant, this child.

On July 24th, at about 11 p.m., I got to hold little Blakely Rose Andrews in my arms for the first time.

About five hours after she was born to my daughter.

My daughter had a daughter.

I don't look that old, do I?

But I am.

I probably do look that old.

But anyway, by no means did I think that little creature I was holding in my arms was insignificant.

Not by any means.

But what you do realize is that this little tiny person can do nothing for itself, maybe but breathe.

Some of them have a hard time doing that, and they have to go on oxygen, things like that.

They can do nothing for themselves.

You have to feed them, you have to clothe them, you have to comfort them, you have to change them, you have to dress them.

They do nothing for themselves.

She's helpless, she's totally dependent.

Jesus is saying, this is the way I want you to be in the kingdom.

If you're going to be my servant, you're going to be totally reliant on me for your strength, for your sustenance, for everything.

That's what being a servant to all.

We're reliant on the Lord Jesus for what we do.

And if someone will listen to the message, if you'll come to them as this vulnerable servant that is helpless, relying on my power, that's the way.

If they'll receive you in that way, then they're receiving me.

If they're receiving me, they're receiving the Father.

That's the way a person will enter in the kingdom when we become that kind of servant, vulnerable and totally dependent on Christ.

Last of all and servant of all.

How many times have we seen a lot of people jump on a big, huge bandwagon because there's some big charismatic personality, polished speaker, has all the giftedness, and and boy, there's a lot going on.

And man, people are, yes, I'll name the name of Jesus.

I believe, I believe, and that's the basis of their belief.

And they're preaching about blessings and prosperity and all this, and that's where people jump on the bandwagon.

You know, there's a book called Not a Fan, Kyle Eiderman wrote.

He says those people are fans of Jesus, not followers of Jesus, if that's what we're after.

We must be last and servant of all.

Jesus calls us to lay aside our desire for significance and become humble, committed, vulnerable servants in order to bring others into the kingdom.

And so Jesus gives this object lesson, he finishes this object lesson, a ready-made illustration for us all, and then one of the disciples is going to speak up.

And who is it going to be?

Probably Peter, right?

He's the one that usually speaks up, not so fast.

Look at verse 38.

John said to him, Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him because he's not following us.

Now, you know, one of Jeff's favorite phrases is the sanctified imagination.

I'm going to try the sanctified imagination thing.

I just, in my imagination, when I read this, I imagine John saying, Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him because he was not following us.

It's just petty.

He's saying, Jesus, how dare this guy throw your name around in ministry?

He's not one of our group.

They must have thought themselves to be pretty significant.

They were one of the 12.

Remember, they've been following Jesus around.

They're the inner circle, they're hearing all the teachings, they're present with all the miracles.

They are the ones that Jesus has directly called out.

Not this big crowd multitude of people.

We must be the ones.

I'm in the select crew.

I'm part of the ride or die crew.

And you older people, if you don't know what that means, ask another, ask a young person later.

But that's what they're feeling.

How dare this guy do great things and steal our thunder?

We're the ones.

How does Jesus reply?

Verse 39, but Jesus said, Do not stop him, for no one who does a mighty work in my name will be able to soon afterwards speak evil of me.

For the one who is not against us is for us.

If good gospel work is going to be legitimately done in my name, let's not be concerned with who gets the credit.

They are not our enemies, they are our friends.

That's the essence of what Jesus is saying.

And so he's issuing this third aspect of this call.

Jesus is calling us to work together for the kingdom and for the gospel.

Now we tend to be clickish.

We don't want to endorse people that aren't doing things quite like we are.

As a matter of fact, in past decades and times, that's been very true of even Free Will Baptist churches, even churches in the same town.

They might not want to work together because they don't support the same Bible college, or they don't like the same music, or they don't do things and dot all their I's and cross their T's in exactly the same way.

Thankfully, that's a thing of the past, and some of those old lines drawn have erased, and there's a new spirit of joining hands and working together for the gospel.

And this is what Jesus is telling us to do.

But not about even just separate churches.

What about in our own church?

Are you willing to join hands with people to do ministry that may not necessarily be in your friend group?

And they might do things a little bit different, they might have different little personality.

Well, I'm gonna do my thing over there, they can do their thing over there.

No, how about we join hands and we celebrate anything that's being done in the name of Christ for the sake of the gospel and work together for the gospel.

That's the call on all of our lives.

That is the call that Jesus is putting out to us.

Jesus tells us that all true gospel work in my name matters.

Look at verse 41.

For truly I say to you, whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you belong to Christ will by no means lose his reward.

Whatever you do to support the work of the gospel matters.

You can't minimize others and refuse to support them because they're doing it in a little different way.

Now, this is not to say we don't need discernment.

We have to discern if somebody's preaching the true gospel.

We have to discern if they believe the essentials of the faith.

We have to discern if they're really rightly dividing the word of truth, and we have to lean on the Holy Spirit to guide us in that.

But if we're convinced of that, if they don't do everything exactly the way we do, hey, let's cheer them on.

Let's join hands, let's work together for the sake of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

So let's fast forward a few chapters.

We're not going to turn there and it's actually in a different gospel.

I'm going to refer to this.

But fast forward to another scene, kind of one of the closing chapters of Jesus' life.

And he's with the disciples in the upper room.

This is the night he's going to be betrayed and arrested.

And he's going to be taken and put on a mock trial.

They're going to beat him and spit on him and curse him and mock him.

They're going to crucify him on the cross.

This is the starting point of that in the upper room with the disciples.

He's sharing with them the gospel.

This is my body.

This is my blood.

This is the way.

And do you know what they're doing again in that upper room?

They are once again arguing and asking Jesus, who's going to be the greatest?

Even after all of this, here they are again.

After he's telling them what it's all about.

They've heard him pray the prayer for unity of all believers.

They've heard him give the teaching that if anybody would come after me, he must take up his cross and die to self daily.

They've heard all that teaching and they're still arguing, thinking about maybe he's going to overthrow the Roman government.

We want to be his generals when this happens.

They're so busy arguing about that that not one of them would condescend to think about doing something that was customary in that time when they came in from this dirty road where they've been walking in their sandals or bare feet all day, and their feet are crusty and dirty.

And so, what's a customary when you come into the house?

Somebody is going to wash your feet.

Nobody, they're so busy arguing about who's the greatest, they don't even think about that.

This is when Jesus removed his outer garment and he removed his tunic.

And next he took a towel, he wrapped around his body, and he poured water into basin and began to slowly move around the circle, washing each of the disciples' outstretched feet, wiping them with the towel that was wrapped around him.

The incarnate Son, God Himself, washed the feet of his prideful, arrogant creatures.

Then he said this in John 13: If I then, your Lord and teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet.

For I've given you an example that you should also do just as I have done to you.

Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him.

So this is the ultimate picture.

Jesus giving them the gospel about what his death and resurrection meant and how they could take part of that.

They'd heard his prayer for unity in John chapter 17, and now he's showing them in real time what it means to serve others.

John 17 · chapter mention

And so he's placing this same kind of call on each and every one of us today.

And so, how do you respond to that call?

Is it a nuisance?

Is it an interruption from what you want to do?

Is it a distraction from what we're supposed to be about or what you think you're supposed to be about?

Are you going to respond to a call to believe the gospel and to become a servant for the gospel and to work together, join hands together for the sake of the gospel and see others come in to the kingdom?

So we started this with this call to believe in the gospel.

Let's all bow our heads together this morning.

And you may be here saying, you know what, I haven't even started that point of the journey.

I haven't nailed that down yet.

But I believe there's something to this, and I want to know what it's about.

I want to place my faith and trust in the death and the resurrection of Christ as the only way to save me from my sins.

You can pray a prayer.

I'm going to pray it, and you can pray a prayer after me if that's you today.

If you want to have that salvation, if you want to place your faith and trust in Christ, you pray this simple prayer after me.

And if you mean it sincerely in your heart, God will save you.

A prayer as simple as this Lord Jesus, I know I'm a sinner.

I believe that you died on the cross for my sin.

And I believe that you'll forgive my sin.

And so I confess it to you, and I ask your forgiveness.

I believe you rose again by your own power.

And I believe that same power can live in me and give me eternal life in heaven.

And I ask you to do that today.

Please save me.

If you prayed that prayer right there, God has saved your soul if you met it in your heart.

And today is the day of the start of you answering the call.

Others of us here that have answered that call, maybe it's just a prayer of commitment you need to make in your own heart today.

God help me to be that servant attitude.

Help me to serve others.

Help me to place myself last in view of being a helpless, vulnerable servant that you can use to bring others into the kingdom.

Help me to work together for the sake of the gospel.

You want to make that commitment in your heart today?

You pray that prayer in your heart.

Now, one more challenge to you that prayed that salvation prayer along with me and meant that in your heart.

Don't stop there.

Would you, when we dismiss this service?

I know, I know Beth's gonna be up here around the front.

Uh John and Lola here are around the front.

There's some packets of information.

If you'll just come see one of them, say, hey, I prayed that prayer, they have a packet of information they'd love to put in your hand.

We'd love to know who you are.

And you can read this information and find out how to follow through on this decision you made today.

If you don't want to come up front, maybe that's not convenient for you.

I'm gonna be standing out by the donut desk.

If you go out in that mall, the area where they were serving donuts, I'll be standing right around there, and I have that information as well.

You just come tell me, hey, I prayed that prayer.

I believe in Christ.

I believe he died for me, and I want to serve him.

And I want to put this information in your hands today.

Father, thank you so much for how you've met with us today.

Thank you for your word, and I pray that you will work these challenges in our heart to answer this call you've placed on our life for the gospel.

In Jesus' name I pray.

Amen.