Luke 17:1-37 - Can You See the Kingdom?

Church, again, Luke 17 is where we are at this morning.

And Jesus is teaching.

And he begins with some just practical instruction here.

Jesus is teaching us what it's like to live as citizens of the kingdom of God.

We're not waiting around, just kind of with our hands in our pockets or kind of folded up, just saying, our job is to just abstain from sin and sit here until Jesus returns.

No, Jesus has called us to a life with him.

In Matthew 11, Jesus says in verse 28, Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart.

And you will find rest for your souls.

For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

I just want to remind you this morning this invitation from Christ to you is a real and genuine invitation.

That you would come, that you might find rest for your soul in Jesus.

And that Jesus is gentle and lowly, humble, approachable.

All this is very true.

And so is this taking on of a yoke.

Taking it on and following the ways of Jesus.

It is a yoke.

It is easy and it's a burden that is light, but yet still a burden.

A yoke is this tool that's used to harness animals, to hook them an ox up to a plow or to pool with.

It goes around their neck.

And so it is this burden.

It is a weight.

It's not just come and be on vacation for the rest of your time on earth.

Come and check out from the cares of the world and enjoy it and just sit around until I return.

No, this invitation is to come and rest and to take on this yoke and this burden of Christ.

But it's such a different kind of yoke and a different kind of burden than the ones that we naturally put on, or the ones that the world would have us to wear and to carry.

Rather, this is from the Lord.

We all know that life is hard.

Tragic things happen that we cannot fully explain.

And even if we could fully explain them, we probably are not satisfied with the answers.

Life is troublesome.

It's difficult.

There are things that are going to wear on you.

I remember I grew up in a Christian family, in a Christian household, and I think I had a very idyllic childhood, a pretty easy life, so to speak, you know, where there's lots of hard things around you, but you're just oblivious to it, and life's good.

When you grow up, you kind of think, man, as I grow up into adulthood, that's when life really begins.

When I can drive and get a job and kind of do my own things and make my own money and go into the world.

That's when life really kind of kicks off and gets going.

And you realize pretty quickly, uh, it's kind of the opposite, actually.

You grow up, life does begin a new way, but the hardships come.

And some of it's just, you know, first job stuff, relationship stuff.

But then tragedy hits.

Your heart gets broken.

People that you know and love die.

People that you looked up to in the faith turn and forsake the things of Jesus.

They've forsaken Christianity.

And as you kind of grow, you realize this life there's trouble, there is sorrow, there is difficulty.

But yet Christ invites us to trust in him and to come to him.

And that invitation, again, isn't to just relax, just chill out.

It is an invitation to come and follow him.

And here in Luke 17, we see what is expected, what to expect from following Jesus.

What to expect from being a citizen of the kingdom of heaven, and how to respond.

Look at verse 1.

And he said to his disciples, Temptations are sure to come, but woe to the one through whom they come.

It will be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were cast into the sea, then he should cause one of these little ones to sin.

So the first thing that Jesus is telling his disciples right here is listen, temptations are sure to come.

So this is a kind of a warning to those who might have a passive attitude.

Like, well, if I could just play this right, I can just kind of dodge the sin, and it's not going to really be a thing for me.

I'm just going to kind of set my life up where I isolate myself from sinful things, and I'll just kind of stay on the path, and I don't need to worry about it.

Jesus is warning them.

They're sure to come.

If you're going to be a follower of Jesus, you need to know temptations are going to come.

If you're going to understand what it means to choose Christ, and as I said a few chapters earlier in Luke, to take up your cross and follow him, you need to know that temptations are going to come.

They will come.

So don't feel this sense of shame because temptation is in your life.

Don't feel this sense of isolation because you're tempted to sin.

That's something that you have in common with every single human who's ever walked the face of the earth except for Jesus Christ.

Well, I shouldn't say he was tempted as well.

He just did not give in to him's temptation.

But every single person who walked the earth knows what it is to be tempted.

At times to give in to that temptation.

The enemy is crafty, though, he's deceitful, and he can get us to feel this shame that there's even the temptation for things.

But they are to come.

And then he gives us further instruction, this warning to those who are leading others to sin.

So they're going to come, but it'd be better, but woe to the one through whom they come.

The people that would indulge to sin and invite others, facilitate sin for others.

It would be better for him if a millstone, millstone, a giant stone they used to mill up grain, hundreds and hundreds of pounds, were hung around their neck and cast into the sea.

Better that that happened than to cause a little one to sin.

See, this expectation, what to expect if you're going to be in the kingdom of God, a citizen of the kingdom of heaven, is that temptations will come, but we had better not be those who are leading others into sin.

Who are taking, could be those under our care or those who are more naive, causing them to sin.

Could just be encouraging, as Romans says, encouraging others to sin and championing their sinfulness.

You know, I have worked several jobs, I've worked in construction, I've worked in a lot of factories and different places.

And when you're a young Christian in these places, what people want to do is they want to see the young Christian guy give in to sin.

It's like clockwork.

They find out you're a Christian, they're around you for a few days, they realize like you don't talk the way they do, you don't do the things that they do, and they're like, man, I just would love to see you drunk.

I'd love to see you do this.

It'd be fun to watch you do this.

What are they doing?

They're indulging their sin, and they're trying to entice me to sin.

They're celebrating, they're wanting to celebrate me sinning.

This is a common pattern we see in the world.

Wanting others to sin.

Scripture says, woe to those.

But yet there should be an expectation from us.

Temptation's gonna come, and there's gonna be people who would love to see us give in to that temptation.

Even people that know us.

They say they care for us, they say they love us, but they would love to see us indulge in sin.

So we must know that temptations are gonna come, expect that.

We must also then be prepared and watch ourselves.

Look at verse 3.

Pay attention to yourselves.

If your brother sins, rebuke him.

And if he repents, forgive him.

And if he sins against you seven times in the day, and turns to you seven times, saying, I repent, you must forgive him.

See, the first instruction there is pay attention to yourselves.

You might be looking out at what kind of out for temptations, but be careful that you don't become hard-hearted.

Careful that you do not become someone who is unrepentant.

If your brother sins, rebuke him.

Now there's a lot of wisdom here in verses 3 and 4.

Wisdom is needed to apply this correctly.

When you think about rebuking someone that's giving them a correction, you know, there's about 10,000 ways that you can do this in the wrong way.

But 10,000 ways you can do this wrong.

And about one that you can do it right.

So this is obviously very sensitive.

But at the same time, this isn't something we're supposed to neglect.

Jesus is saying to his followers, if your brother sins, rebuke him.

Right?

It's our job as Christians to lovingly say to a brother or sister, this isn't necessarily a non-Christian that we're responsible for right here in this context.

This is a Christian.

Probably what we have a relationship with.

We care for, we're praying for them, we're actively engaging them relationally.

If we see them in sin, we gotta say something about that.

And this is, I just want to say, this isn't probably the sins of like that you pick out that are just kind of like your things.

You need to make sure the Bible says it's a sin.

Right?

You can't call something sin, the Bible doesn't call sin.

You just can't do that.

So you need to make sure first and foremost it actually is a sin.

And then just lovingly go to that brother or sister and say, hey, I love you, I care about you.

You know, this is, I'm not good at this, I'm awkward at this, but I just want to tell you, I think what you're doing is the Bible says you're not supposed to do that.

And and here's what it's doing in your life.

It's first of all, it's killing your love for Jesus, it's it's ruining your witness for Christ.

And I love you, and I don't want to see you keep going down that path.

Can I pray with you?

Can we pray about this?

Now you get you you're responsible for the rebuke.

What they do with that, right, is not necessarily your responsibility.

Now, obviously, wisdom would say that doesn't mean you just go around giving people rebukes, right?

Hey, your kids don't listen the way they should.

We'll give you a rebuke.

Hey, you don't spend your money the way I think you should.

Rebuke.

Hey, you don't dress the way I think you should.

Rebuke.

Not at all.

Not at all.

The thing is, though, church, if people don't know that you love them, it's really hard to rebuke them.

So you've got to spend time together.

If you're not spending time with people, if you're not kind of in their home, they're in your home, you're you're you're meeting up, you're talking, you're discussing things over the fellowship meal, you're spending time with these people.

If that's not happening, then the rebuke probably is not going to be received very well because you probably don't care actually that much for the person.

Right?

You must be displaying your love for them.

And if they repent, you're to forgive them.

Don't you do any rebuking unless you're willing to forgive.

Right?

Don't even think, well, I'm gonna tell them they're wrong.

Because that's not the heart of someone who's ready to forgive.

If he repents, forgive him.

That's another command.

That's not an option.

If he sins against you seven times in a day and turns to you seven times, saying, I repent, you must forgive him.

I want to bring some clarification here.

So, first of all, forgiveness is obviously a sensitive thing.

What does Jesus mean by you must forgive him?

Some theologians and teachers and people kind of, what their understanding is you don't have to forgive.

You're not commanded to forgive.

There's no obligation for you to forgive until they've repented.

So until they come to you with a repentant attitude, you don't forgive them.

Some people would say, no, you you just forgive them regardless.

Which I would tend to side with that, but there does seem to be an exchange here.

For forgiveness to fully have happened, there must be the two parties exchanging, interacting.

So my encouragement to you is as far as it's possible, as Romans 12 says, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.

Romans 12, 18.

Right?

So you've done the work in your heart.

They've sinned against you.

They've said something, they've done something.

It's not just your perception.

It's actually sin.

They've sinned against you, and you have done the work in your heart so that when they've repent, if they repent, and when they repent, you're ready to forgive.

Make sense.

You've done all the things of taking it to the Lord and asking him to soften your heart and asking him to give you eyes to see them the way God sees them.

And when they're ready to repent, you forgive them.

The way that this can be used in a twisting of ways is when you see this.

You probably experienced this yourself if you've been around Christians long enough.

Where people will come to you and they'll just say, you know, I forgive you.

You're like, for what?

I forgive you.

You sinned against me, but I forgive you.

Right?

That's not how this works.

Right?

You cannot fully forgive someone until sin has been acknowledged on both parties.

But yet in your heart, as far as as you can, you're ready and you're primed to forgive.

You almost have this posture of Christ where you are excited in a sense to show them the undeserved mercy that Christ has shown you.

You're excited, not because you're the bigger Christian and you're more spiritual and you're more holy, none of that.

But rather you're excited to show them the mercy and grace and kindness that Christ has shown to you.

To show this forgiveness.

But with this, there must be first acknowledgement of sin.

Right?

That's the first step.

Is that everyone acknowledges the sin and what they've done?

And then there's reconciliation, right?

The forgiveness, transaction, if you will.

Will you forgive me?

I forgive you.

And then there's restoration.

Now I just want to say we are commanded to acknowledge our sin when we've sinned, and to acknowledge other people's sin.

So we're not commanded to just ignore someone else's sin against us.

Oh, it's not sin, it's fine.

No, if it's sin, you have to acknowledge that.

And then we're to reconcile.

And this happens when Christians forgive each other.

And even non-Christians, there's this reconciliation that happens.

And then at times there is restoration.

But I do want to say this last part of restoration, it doesn't always happen this side of glory.

Okay?

You can forgive someone, it doesn't mean you fully trust them anymore, and that's okay.

You can forgive someone, and maybe you're like, I don't want to be their best friend, and I want to tell you, that's okay.

Now, if you're if you're not actually forgiving them, and then you're just saying, well, I've forgiven them, but I just don't want to be around them, or I've forgiven them, and whatever your excuses, that's not okay.

You have to genuinely, actually forgive.

But there are things, there's just sins that have been committed against us, relationships violated, where restoration is not going to take place, this sign of glory.

And if we force that expectation on ourselves or on others, you're going to cause more damage.

100% restoration is the goal, it's the aim, it's the desire.

But as wise people, we need to know the difference between reconciliation.

I've been reconciled.

We've acknowledged the sin.

We've repented, forgiveness has been transacted, and mean that in a positive way.

But the relationship isn't restored.

It's not back to where it was.

Now, most relationships, as you work over time, restoration will come.

But if we're going to read verses four, three and four and truly apply them to our lives, we've got to do so with wisdom.

With wisdom.

Knowing that the Lord will give us strength.

I've seen this many times where people at times feel in their heart that they cannot forgive.

And this person has done something to me, and I just can't forgive them.

And most people don't think about this in this frame or frame it this way.

But, and remember, we're speaking about forgiveness, not necessarily restoration here.

When they say I can't forgive, what you're saying is, I don't think the Holy Spirit in me is powerful enough to do this.

Right?

It's a doubting of the power that God has given to you.

Now you might spend the rest of your days working to forgive, and then you see them, and feelings and emotions come back, or you have a conversation, or it's something they said, and it kind of brings back all the emotions, and you might be working for the rest of your life to keep kind of that repentant attitude, that posture of repentance, or the posture of forgiveness to them, excuse me.

You might be working at that for the rest of your days.

That's the Lord enabling you.

But to have a posture of I just can't forgive them.

They're beyond My forgiveness.

One, I'm going to tell you, you're not holy like God.

You're not that holy.

Right?

And God is.

And through the power of the Spirit that He's given to you, you can forgive.

Might not be restoration, but it can be reconciliation.

If you have questions about that, I know there's a lot of authority things there.

I'd love to talk with you and pray with you more about that.

But what to expect as citizens in the kingdom of heaven, temptations will come, right?

And there will be rebuking and forgiving.

And a lot of those things will happen.

A lot of rebuking and forgiving.

All this, Jesus is talking about forgiveness.

And this repentance again and again and again.

It's no wonder the apostles say in verse 5, Lord, increase our faith.

Increase our faith.

And this is a good and right request in a sense.

They acknowledge in themselves, in their own flesh, they can't do this kind of fighting off temptation, forgiving and rebuking.

So they're requesting this help from the Lord.

And the Lord said in verse 5, if you had faith like a grain of a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, be uprooted and plant it in the sea.

And it would obey you.

What a famous, well-known passage from Scripture, from the Gospels.

Jesus saying, if you have the faith of a mustard seed, mustard seeds are so tiny.

And I just, for so long I would hear this verse, and I would just think, man, there's no way.

Like I don't even have, I don't even have the faith of a mustard seed.

Like I must have microscopic faith.

It's so small.

It doesn't do anything.

I can't get anything to move or be planted or healed.

So small.

Increase.

Measure.

Size.

How big is your faith?

Is it big enough to move mountains?

Can you take a tree or a bush and plant it in the ocean?

Well, that's absurd.

Right?

Nothing is going to take a mulberry tree and plant it in the sea.

What's Jesus doing here?

He's tearing apart this whole concept of a faith that is measurable or sizable.

He's saying, if you had just the tiniest, tiniest faith, like a mustard seed, you could do these things.

He's saying it's not the size of your faith.

It's not the measure of your faith.

It's the object of your faith that matters.

It's the object of your faith.

It's what is your faith in.

Not the volume or the strength or the size of it.

This idea of faith is somewhat abstract.

It's kind of an abstract thought, right?

So here's a simple definition.

Faith is belief in something when it can't be fully proven at the moment.

Right?

You all came in here, and you, as you were walking in and you were finding a seat, you had faith that that seat was going to hold you, right?

You had faith in that, it's going to work.

Now there's reasons for that, it's because most people don't keep chairs around that don't work, right?

It's proven that it's worked before, but you had faith, you have confidence it's going to work, even though it had not held you today.

And then you sat in it and it was proven true.

It held you.

When you get married, you have faith that your spouse will keep their promises, they'll love you when things are hard and they're difficult.

And sometimes you're proven right and it works.

And sometimes you're proven wrong and it fails.

But faith can often feel like this, as a mental and emotional feeling.

It's like love.

It's an emotion, it's like a mental position.

You feel this.

Emotion.

We feel it.

We want to feel it more, so we pray that it would increase.

But also, like true love, love, it's really less of an emotion.

With love, we choose to love.

With faith, we choose to believe in something.

I'm going somewhere with this.

Stick with me, okay?

Love is a decision.

And the deeper the love, that's the language we use, deep love, right?

Is a resolve, not an emotion.

There might be like butterflies and like you get carried with emotions, and it might look like or be kind of, in some ways, love.

But love in the way that we use it most often is a decision.

So the deeper your love for your spouse, the deeper your resolve.

I will love them.

I'm making a decision to love them.

That's what love is.

It's a decision, a resolve to show this person love.

There's all kinds of ways that that works out.

It's a resolve.

You want to love someone, you're resolved to love them.

Faith is not love.

I know we're using terms and we kind of use interchangeably at times.

It's confusing.

It's not measured, so to speak, in this resolve, in this decision.

I have great faith because I've just decided to have great faith.

And I have big faith because I've just decided I have big faith.

Faith is about the object that your faith is in.

It's the object, it's the thing that your faith is in.

Right?

So illustration, I always say illustrations break down eventually.

This one does too, but listen.

Think about a swimmer who's swimming out in a lake, right?

You're out there swimming in the lake, and there's some people, and they just don't have, like they think, hey, there's no lifeguard around, and it's just on me.

I gotta make it.

I have faith in myself that I will make it.

I have this confidence, this faith in me.

I'm the object of my faith, and I'm just believing myself that I'm out here swimming this lake, and if something happens, I'll figure it out.

I'm a strong swimmer.

I'll make it to shore.

I'm not a strong swimmer, by the way.

Um, that's why I need faith, right?

So the second position could be those who are swimming in the ocean or a lake, excuse me, and there is a lifeguard.

Right?

So you're thankful.

There's a lifeguard.

It's his job to save lives.

And he's out there, he's in his big chair, but he's distracted.

He's caring for the, it would seem, the more needy swimmers or whatever.

So you know he's there, this lifeguard, but you're not really confident that he is able to save you.

And you're not really confident that he's even looking your way, or that he actually wants to save you.

And there could be those who are swimming in the lake, lifeguard's up in the chair, and the lifeguard sees you, and you see the lifeguard, and you have this connection, and you're, and he's coaching you.

The lifeguard's there to coach you.

And he's gonna tell you kind of some good technique and to watch out for this, and he's gonna bring you in to safety.

Right?

Begin to see this progression of how Christians think about Christ and salvation.

It's all in me.

I gotta do this.

It's all on me.

There isn't no lifeguard coming for me, there's no salvation for me.

I've got to figure it out.

Sure, Jesus wants to save me and he loves me in some abstract way, but he's not really around.

He doesn't seem to care about me.

I don't have a whole lot of confidence in him.

Or, no, I know Jesus, he knows me, and he gives me some good pointers.

He's gonna help me, he's gonna help me come to shore.

I think as long as I keep an eye on him and just follow what he says, he's here for me.

He's gonna help me get to shore.

Or there's the lifeguard that sees you out there and comes to you.

And he comes to you to rescue you.

Some of you don't even know you need rescued.

And here the lifeguard comes.

He's got his floaty thing, and he's not just kind of beside you saying, okay, now like swim this way and go that way, and I'm a real personal lifeguard.

I'm just gonna stay right here and help you.

No, he's come to rescue you.

He's come to bring you, and he wraps his arms around you, and he holds you, and he brings you to shore.

He takes you to safety.

This confidence is in the life that he has the ability to save and that he will save.

It's not this, maybe he could if he wanted to, don't know if he will.

It's a full and complete confidence that he can do it and he will do it, that he will come and rescue you.

See, the faith isn't, well, if I just believe hard enough, the lifeguard will come.

No.

If I just had enough faith in the lifeguard, then he would be a great lifeguard and come and save me.

No.

The confidence is in that he is who he says he is.

Our confidence is in the object of our faith.

So here the disciples are saying, increase our faith.

And Jesus is saying, Man, if you just had the faith of a mustard seed, you can move mountains, you can throw plants into the sea and they would grow.

This isn't about your faith.

This is about the confidence we have in Christ, that he is who he says he is, that he will do what he says he will do, that when you have to fight temptation and you have to deal with the false teaching of the Pharisees, and that when temptations come for you and they still lie to you, that Jesus Christ is sufficient.

It is not the size of your faith, church.

It is the object of your faith, the one you're looking to for your salvation.

Amen.

Our trust is in him, our confidence is in him.

So it's no longer this striving.

We just build up our faith.

There is this beholding.

Look who Christ is.

Look how magnificent he is.

Look at his mercy and his grace.

Look at his love that he's lavished on us.

Look and behold.

And as you behold him, so your understanding, you have clarity on who he is.

And you grow in that sense, in your faith.

Not because it was something that you did and you, but man, you see him more clearly.

You don't have the same doubts you used to have.

You're not worried about the same things you're used to, you used to be worried about.

Why?

Because you've seen God show up for you.

You're confident in his character, you're confident in his attentiveness in your life, you're confident in his love for you.

That comes by beholding him, looking to him.

Now, listen.

If you're lacking faith, if you feel like you're just your faith is dry, you feel like you're not a whole lot of confidence in this lifeguard, then he's gonna come for you if need be.

It's because you're not seeing clearly.

The more clearly you see, the more faith you will have.

The more clearly you see Christ, who he is, the more faith you will have.

So what keeps you from seeing clearly?

Sin?

Lack of love.

There's sin in your life that you indulge, you choose to sin, your vision gets worse.

You're not going to see Christ and the object of your faith as clearly when you're indulging in sin.

You're just giving yourself into sin.

And maybe you can say, no, I'm examining my life.

I don't see much sin there.

There's just not much faith.

The second thing is you have to pursue him.

So you do that through the word.

You study the word, you pray over the word, you gather with the saints to study the word, you meditate on the things of God.

In like any relationship, you pursue him, you love him.

So either there's sin in your life or there's a lack of love for the Lord.

And there needs to be a resolve, a decision.

This is a decision, hey, I'm just gonna bolster up my faith, right?

Our faith isn't the object, but it is a decision, I'm gonna love the Lord, I'm gonna be in the word, I'm gonna pray intentionally, I'm gonna memorize scripture.

Because I'm having a relationship with God.

So I'm gonna spend time with him.

This love is this decision to pursue.

The Lord is gracious and kind to us.

And as we do that, then there is this ordinary obedience.

An ordinary obedience.

Look at verse 7.

Will any of you who as servant planner keep keeping sheep say to him, when he has come in from the field, Come at once and recline at table.

Will he not rather say to him, Prepare supper for me, and dress properly and serve me while I eat and drink?

And afterward you will eat and drink?

Does he think the servant thank the servant because he did what was commanded?

So you also, when you have done all that you were commanded, say, We are unworthy servants.

We have only done that which was our duty.

We're only doing what the Lord has called us to do.

So as you think about this, understanding temptation and sin, and understanding forgiveness and repentance, understanding faith, that we're not striving to kind of grow our faith, we're seeing clearly the object of our faith.

It's all pretty ordinary.

It's all pretty simple.

The question isn't how do we unlock all these really complex, confusing scriptures?

The question is, are we are we just doing what we're supposed to do?

Are we walking in repentance?

Are we intending to show mercy and forgiveness to those around us?

Are we just walking in this ordinary obedience to the Lord?

Lest the disciples that are hearing Jesus who are living in this kind of pharisaic age, lest their pride get built up and they're like, hey, we're doing it.

We're really special, we're like first-class Christians.

It's just saying you're just doing your duty when you're walking in obedience to God.

That's the blessing and the beauty of the kingdom of heaven, the kingdom of God.

It's just simple obedience.

We're just walking in the ways of the Lord.

We don't have to untangle all the theological questions that we might have or others might have.

And we should be good theologians and study the scriptures and apply ourselves heartily to that.

We don't need to unlock all the questions that agnostics or atheists or other worldviews might have.

We can be wise and study and give good answers for the hope that is within us.

But what is required of you is this walking in faithfulness.

And how is that to be done?

By beholding Christ.

By looking to Christ.

By beholding him, the object of your faith, your love for him will increase.

Your desire for obedience will increase.

Your love for loving others will increase.

By beholding him, you will walk in more obedience to him.

You walk in faithfulness.

There is not a scenario where you kind of are just separate or keep Christ at an arm's length and saying, listen, you do your thing over there, we're cool, I'll do my thing over here, and we'll meet in glory.

This doesn't happen.

Your calling on your life is to worship Christ, to behold him, to worship him, to be in this relationship of worship with him.

And you do that through the scriptures.

Being in the word, letting the word guide you, cut you, heal you, remind you by being in prayer over the word, meditating on the word, gathering with the saints on the Lord's day to hear the word preached, to confess our sins and how we've fallen short of the word.

As you do these, you are becoming more like him.

This is the blessing of the Lord just laying out the expectations.

Jesus is saying, This is what it means to be in my kingdom.

Just ordinary faithfulness.

Yes, there is a yoke.

Yes, there is a load, a burden.

It's life-giving if you surrender to it.

It's life giving because Christ has paid the price for your sin.

And so what you do is you now, out of worship, you follow him because you belong to him.

Amen.

Church, let's pray together.