WHAT DID JESUS REALLY SAY: About Salvation

Welcome to the Celebration Church Orlando podcast.

Thank you so much for listening today.

We hope it encourages you and inspires you.

Here's today's message.

Hey church, welcome to Church at Home.

Thank you so much for joining us today, especially if this is your first time here.

We want to extend a special welcome to you.

We are in our second week of our series, What Did Jesus Really Say?

And today we're talking about probably one of the most important, if not the most important thing in the in Christianity, which is salvation.

And so we're so glad that you are joining us.

My name is Nate.

This is my beautiful wife, Jen.

This is Pastor Keith and Pastor Megan.

And then Pastor Becca Westcott is here with us today.

So we got another great panel for you.

And uh we believe that um no matter if you've been saved for 10 days, 10 decades, or you're not saved, uh, there's something in here for you today, and we hope that uh you walk away encouraged.

So uh, Pastor Keith, let's let's set the scene.

What are we talking about today?

And uh where where are we in scripture?

Yeah, man.

So we're gonna we're gonna talk about salvation, like you said.

So we're gonna literally take this robust topic and we're gonna explain it to its fullness in the next 27 minutes.

So um, and and I'm absolutely kidding.

But we are we're gonna dig into this because I here's what I know.

I know that when it comes to this idea of salvation and realizing that so much of the Bible speaks to it and leads from it, um, it's important for us to understand what it really means.

It's important for us to be able to wrestle with the ideas and not only knowing what salvation is, um, but what does salvation require from us?

Do we have to work for it?

What does it all look like?

And honestly, depending on your denomination, I think all of us has probably has different backgrounds and how we've engaged and approached church, it can look a little bit different.

So, what I want to do is I just wanted us to look at moments where what does Jesus say about it?

Not does a random scripture, not does what a denomination, what does someone's interpretation, but let's take this topic and let's look at what Jesus says about it.

And so I think one of the most um powerful um texts in the Bible around this idea is found in the Gospel of John chapter three.

And it's a it's a very powerful conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus.

So so let me set the teeth, let me set the scene, and then I'm gonna ask you to read it for us, Jen, if you don't mind.

But ultimately, we're gonna we're gonna encounter this this man named Nicodemus.

Now, leading up to this conversation, um, Jesus has just got finished um turning water to wine and cleansing the temple.

Um, that's in John chapter two.

So now the the word is out.

Jesus is on the scene, he's he's he's upsetting some things, he's shifting some things, and so naturally everybody's looking at it.

His Instagram followers are going through the room, people are recognizing what Jesus is doing right now.

So naturally, there's some people who got the blue check.

He's got the blue check, like it took him like two days, and he already had the blue check, like Jesus is doing some things, and so naturally people are beginning to ask questions like who is this guy?

What gives him the authority?

Um, but there's other people who are intrigued and saying, Man, I see something in him that does align with scripture, but I'm a little bit afraid to approach it openly because I have so many allegiances with other people, and we could talk about that all day.

So he says, I'm gonna come and talk to Jesus at night.

I like to call him Nick at night.

Um Nick comes to Jesus at night.

And so, Jen, if you don't mind, could you read um John chapter three?

We're gonna read verses one through eighteen.

So y'all stick in with us.

It's gonna come up on the screen, but I think it's gonna help us to really get a good idea of this exchange between Jesus and Nicodemus, and then we're just gonna have a conversation around it.

Yeah.

Yeah.

All right.

Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews.

This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher from come from God, and no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.

Jesus answered him, Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

Nicodemus said to him, How can a man be born when he is old?

Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?

Jesus answered, Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water in the spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.

That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the spirit is spirit.

Do not marvel that I said to you, You must be born again.

The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes.

So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.

Nicodemus said to him, How can these things be?

Jesus answered him, Are you the teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand these things?

Truly, truly I say to you, we speak of what we know and bear witness to what we have seen, but you do not receive our testimony.

If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things?

No one has ascended into heaven except he who ha who descended from heaven, the Son of Man.

And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.

For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.

Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.

So light work.

Yeah, just light work.

Easy, easy work here.

That is uh there's there's obviously a lot to process, but I I I think I think one of the biggest things um that that kind of jumps right out to me uh is again kind of like we talked about last week with truth, was Jesus was saying, Hey, I'm not of this world, my systems aren't of this world, and it's the same with salvation.

And uh, you know, even being a leader in the church when he says uh how how are you a teacher and you don't know these things, you know, that kind of that strikes me and scares me a little bit too much.

That's a good observation.

So yeah, I I I think the biggest thing is is to remember when we're talking about uh these things, especially in regards to salvation, that uh it's from heaven and it doesn't line up with with what we're doing here on earth, you know.

Absolutely.

And I think what's important for us to to grab a hold of is like what is salvation?

Like, why is it even necessary?

Because I know earlier in my faith, like I think all of us have a different, I would say on ramp to our walk with God.

All of us have an origin story.

Anyone that's been around, y'all know I love um comic books, y'all know I love like Marvel movies.

It's Megan's absolute favorite.

Um but I I love that the word Marvel is in this passage.

This is why you're here.

Um, but this is why I love it because I love whenever you have an opportunity to kind of learn someone's origin story.

You kind of learn what activates them into the service that they feel called to do.

And so I think all of us have a different on-ramp on how we've begun to engage this idea of walking with God.

Some of us, um, like maybe Pastor Becca, you were born holding a lamb with the King James Bible, and you were just you just inherited salvation.

For some of us, we we may have gone a different path for quite a period of time before Jesus just arrested our normal life, and then we just found ourselves utterly dependent on him.

And I think also there's moments where there's some of us where our origin story is like I was raised in the Christian household.

I I recognize it, I live my life on my own terms, but I had these boundaries.

But there's a moment when you can't you can't inherit faith.

At some point, it has to be yours.

And so I like to think of this as um Nicodemus's origin story.

And so when I when I think about like the conversation that they're having, I think about the conversations that I had, maybe with my pastor and even with Jesus myself in my own times of prayer.

And and one of the things that was the most helpful for me when engaging scripture and beginning to develop my walk with God, it was learning how to ask questions.

I think for so long, earlier in my faith, um, and even before I became like a full believer, um, you were always, I was always told things like, you can't question God.

Right.

Don't question God.

Um, but that's actually not true.

There's a difference between asking questions and questioning the way that God does things or questioning who he is.

And so I had to learn, no, it's okay to ask questions because how else can you actually begin to begin a journey of of self-discovery and learning more about God?

So, with that being said, this is something that I want to I want to share with us just to kind of set the tone of what salvation is, and then we can kind of get into where we are in this text.

The reason why salvation is necessary is because we live in a fallen and broken world.

Now, this is where this all comes from, is back in Genesis.

So we hear these things about the fall of man, but ultimately what ends up happening, and I'll give us the reduced version of it, is that we remember this part where God's talking to Adam and Eve, and he tells them, Hey, you have all these options, you have a lot of things that you guys can do and get involved in.

I've created a perfect environment for you.

You have the tree of life as well, but I want you to stay away from this tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

And immediately they did the very thing, the one thing that God tells them not to do.

Sounds like us.

So um, not much has changed since then.

So literally they go and do the very thing that God tells them not to, and so there's a consequence for that.

Paul says it this way for that the wages of sin is death.

God said, like the day that you eat of this, death is gonna be something that's gonna be the byproduct of that, that creates this broken world that we live in.

And so that's kind of the broken world that we live in.

And what we see with Paul talks about as well is that by one person, sin and death entered into the world, but also by one person, so does righteousness and redemption.

That's what salvation is.

But from that moment, we lived in a fallen and broken world in the same way that I'm a sports fan.

So the same way that if I'm watching, um, if I'm watching the Lakers play and LeBron foul somebody, even though he's the one who committed the foul, the entire team is penalized.

Yeah, that's what happened with mankind.

Our representatives, Adam and Eve, they're the ones who sinned, but because they sinned, we all have inherited um that sin nature.

And like you were saying, we still have that propensity to choose the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

We want to determine what's right and wrong on our own terms.

That's literally the nature of who we are.

But the beautiful thing is, and what the salvation is really uh showing us, is that even then God had a plan.

Yeah.

Because Adam and Eve, who were, the Bible says that they were naked and unashamed, literally naked and unashamed.

But the Bible says the moment that they fallen into this broken place, they they were aware of their nakedness.

And then they went off to grab the fig leaves to try to cover it up for themselves.

They wanted to fix it on their own.

Still, same thing with us.

We find things, we try to find the fig leaves and fix things on our own.

But what God does is he comes in and he covers them with the skins of animals, which then means that something had to die in order to cover their nakedness, in order to cover their shame.

That instituted the sacrificial system that Jesus ended up taking to his highest expression when he goes to the cross.

That is what salvation is.

Salvation is us being covered.

It is God's way of covering us, it's God's way of inviting us to be a part of his family.

So that is the precursor or the reason why salvation was ultimately necessary.

So now when we get into this conversation between Nicodemus and him understanding the broken world, the sacrificial system, not fully understanding that Jesus was going to fulfill it, but that's what kind of sets the tone for how we've arrived here is understanding that that we are a broken people who are in desperate need of savior.

Yeah, for sure.

And if you if you think about if you think about the Jews, they're looking for a Messiah to come in and kind of save them in a worldly manner, almost, and not so much a spiritual manner.

So Jesus, uh, I think, you know, obviously intentionally, he points right to the spiritual, uh, saying, like, you must be born again.

And then Nicodemus, well, what what in the world are you talking about?

You know what I mean?

So um He Jesus tends to do that, obviously, to speak right where we need it.

So um, Jen, I know like obviously know your salvation story, and uh, I don't know your salvation story, I know my own salvation story, but we all have different stories of of why we chose to make that decision, and I think it would be cool to to kind of share that.

Yeah, well, I also wanted to share too, like my understanding of salvation was not correct in what I thought it actually was.

And I love that you said that, Pastor Keith, about questioning things, um, just having questions and like digging deeper into that because I think that's that's how I was able to learn um and get a better understanding of what salvation was.

Um and salvation comes from faith.

Um, and uh that faith then helps us we live that faith out by what we do.

Absolutely.

How I grew up was um I had an understanding that um to be saved you had to do things.

And as a person who loves to help people and like do things and just I'm an achiever, um, and I I love just doing things.

And for me, I was like, how much can I possibly do in order to be saved?

Because that was my understanding of it.

And I don't think that's I think that's a common thing.

I think there are many people who may believe that.

Um and it was so freeing for me to know that you you you have salvation by faith, and that faith and that love, that understanding of what salvation is, then you do that those things for God.

Um one of the things that I wrote was like an understanding of faith and spiritual maturity grows.

Like you understand things more, but your faith grows, your spiritual, your spiritual maturity grows, and then you do these things outwardly, like serving.

I think that's a great way um to honor God, the faith and the salvation that He has given you.

Yeah, absolutely, absolutely.

I agree.

I think too, like um growing up in the churches that that we had grown up in, it was you got saved so that you didn't go to hell.

Exactly.

You know, and so the whole point was missed.

It was fire for all of this.

It was fun, they call it fire and broom stuff, you know, and so a lot of times you did it just because without like that's like doing something and not knowing the real, like, why are you doing this?

And um, it was a fear tactic that often churches would use so they can convert people over, but it doesn't create life change within a person, and I think that is something that we had to change our mindset in as years went on, was like it took a while too.

It took a while to get that out of us um because it was so ingrained in the culture of the church that we were in.

And here's a here's a here's a crazy thing.

So I I don't know these metrics, but I was reading this article where they were talking about like these massive revivals um that different people were preaching like back in like the 50s, 60s, and and and even into the 70s, and like a lot of like the fire and brimstone preachers, like these are all realities of the Bible, but you know, you can lean on it and kind of have like guilt people into a surrender.

Um, but they actually ran a metric on showing, like, okay, so of the masses of people that surrendered their life to God under that pretense of of performance, how many of them have been sustained in their walk with God, and then how many of how much of that is really displayed in people's families?

Virtually none.

It doesn't stick.

Yeah.

Whenever you have to work for salvation, or whenever you're guilted or like made to be fearful of it, it doesn't stick.

It just shows you that if you don't embrace it from the posture of love, it just doesn't stick.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Well, and and the and the whole premise of that is being saved out of something and not necessarily being saved into something.

Yeah.

Um and so I I think, and here's the thing: I was that kid that was like, all right, I'm not going to hell, you know what I mean?

So I don't want to discredit or you know, just totally push aside God can use anything.

We've said that many a time and we'll continue to say that.

But again, what what Jesus is trying to say here is is I'm I'm trying to to have you born into my kingdom and not necessarily born out of something.

That's so true.

That's so true.

And and here's one of the things that I love about that I love about this text is because it shows us that that again that that Nicodemus comes to him at night.

Now, here's one of the things that I think it's important for us to recognize is that yes, according to John's writing, this literally takes place in the evening time.

But let's take it a step further.

One of the major themes that John uses in his gospel, even in his epistles later, to highlight um revelation and right relationship with God versus living in a place where we're away from God is light and darkness.

So John is really good at providing internal commentary.

So when he's making a statement, it's never just a singular statement.

So when he says that Nicodemus is coming to him at night, yes, it's dark outside, but he's in a dark season of his soul as well.

He is a person who does not have internal revelation, and so that's the beautiful thing about it.

But I what I think is so powerful is that Jesus meets him at night.

That means that even when Nicodemus is in a dark season, Jesus meets him where he is.

Yeah, that's powerful.

I think so often we think that we have to present ourselves in a certain way in order to be accepted by God, that we have to clean ourselves up.

And I've heard family members and people that I've um done life with in different seasons say to me, like, I'm gonna start going to church once I get myself together.

I'm gonna start, I'm gonna start engaging God.

And it's almost like this belief that that I have to get things in order before I can begin to engage God.

But what I think this narrative is meant to show us is that Nicodemus is in the midst of darkness, he's in the midst of not having the revelation of who Jesus is, and yet Jesus is willing to engage in where he is.

Yeah, well, at least he has the humility to even approach Jesus in the first place, you know, and that's that's that's a powerful image right there.

Yeah, he says, Come as you are, you know, we don't have to have ourselves fixed up because the walk that we have, there's a it's a process to it.

Yeah, and so there's a process to getting to where we choose.

We'll never get there, but we're always striving to get better along the way.

Absolutely, absolutely.

So, one of the things that that I think stands out to me in this text is that in this short passage, Jesus says truly, truly, six times.

Like he says it a lot.

I was actually watching you then you're like, okay, he says truly, truly again.

Here it is again.

He really needs it.

He really is clearly trying to make sure that we and basically it's like if I could paraphrase like Jesus saying, Okay, like for real, for real.

I want you guys to hear this.

I want you to grab a hold of what I'm about to say.

He's really drawing emphasis to it.

And each time he says that, he's he's really trying to help.

He's like, Okay, I know that you're listening to a lot of things, but I need you to get this.

And so what Jesus is saying is that I need you to understand that it's not good enough for you to observe what I'm doing.

It's important for you to be born into the kingdom.

That is that is so crucial.

I think that there's a lot of folks that can observe the activity of God, acknowledge what God is doing, but Jesus is saying that's not good enough.

What I need from you, truly, truly, you have to be born again.

You have to surrender to this, you have to recognize this new birth.

And so, of course, Nicodemus's response is how how is this even possible?

How can a person be born again?

Now, I've I've read a lot of commentaries in a lot of different journals on this.

Um, and and so many people are like, like, man, Nicodemus just didn't get it.

Like, Nicodemus was brilliant.

When you understand, which is why they describe that he was a Pharisee, he was a teacher, he was also a leader, he was like one of the highest ranking Jews in the entire world.

So he's not a slow man.

What happened in the Jewish culture is that they ask questions to deepen their understanding, but also sometimes to challenge the person that they're questioning.

And the truth of the matter is this idea of being born again, that's not a new statement.

Like the even the Old Testament talks about how when they would say that there were people that were converted to Judaism, they would say when a person converts to Judaism, it's like a child being born again.

So that phrase was not something that was new to Nicodemus.

What he was trying to understand is how do we do that in the context of what you're talking about, Jesus?

You're talking about being born again.

How do we do that?

How do we get saved?

And I think that's a powerful question that I think is worth discussing.

Okay, we we hear all this stuff, but how do we do it?

Like, what is that what does that really look like?

You know, what do you think?

I mean, one of my favorite things is I also love in 3.8 where he talks about like you can't fully explain being born, which has helped me out too because I try to think about like, okay, what exactly do I need to do in order to be born again or be saved?

And Jesus even talks about like the wind blows wherever it wants, just as you can hear the wind, but can't tell where it comes from or where it is going, so you can't explain how people are born in the spirit, which gave me a little bit of like a sigh of relief.

So it helped me to understand, okay, there are some things that maybe I can't fully understand or walk out and being like saved, like what it actually looks like.

Yeah, so that helped me out when Jesus is literally saying sometimes you can't always explain it.

But I think for me, living out that is um reading the Bible, obviously, and seeing like what did Jesus do?

That's my biggest thing is um I want to honor him.

Um, and as I grow my faith, I want to do the things that he did.

He's a perfect example of what how I can model my faith.

And those are the little steps that I'm trying to take.

I don't think I can understand everything.

I try to do it the best I can, but I think um uh the the verse 3-8 really helps me to feel like okay, yeah, for sure.

There might not be things that I understand completely.

And that's okay.

Yeah, Pastor Becca, how do we get saved?

Well, I was gonna actually backtrack to what you were saying about um that the Jews would baptize, you know, the Gentiles in order to become one of them.

And so I'm just thinking through the the lens of Nicodemus, and he is a Pharisee, he knows the law, he's been following this.

He's starting to go, you might be the Messiah that we've been looking for.

You know, Jesus addresses the fact that they're coming into the kingdom, but at some point he's realizing that like his religious understanding doesn't trump spiritual insight.

That like the spiritual insight that Jesus is requiring that okay, you're asking me to be born again, but I'm already a Jew.

Like I'm already accepted into the kingdom.

And Jesus is saying, No, like your good isn't good enough.

And as someone who like uh grew up in the church, I had to realize like, man, I have been good, like I I didn't stray away from God, but that that was still wasn't enough.

I'm still in need of salvation.

And so I think it's that recognizing um, you know, the the fallen nature.

I mean, I have an eight-month-old.

I did not have to teach him how to throw a fit if I take something away from him.

That is ingrained.

You know, and so um just recognizing our our fallen nature and then the fact that like this whole thing as a message is a salvation message from Genesis to Revelation.

I think sometimes it's easy to forget, like, man, this like Jen was saying, like, this is the way out.

Like, this is the the starting to practice what it looks like to be saved.

Yeah, it is.

And I think what's like you said, like I think there are there are different spectrums, and even once people find themselves in the the community of faith, um, that we can get to a place where where maybe we don't cuss the way that we used to.

And we and we cut back on the drinking, and we've done some of these behavioral modification things that can often make us believe that we've arrived and that we're on this pedestal.

But but what the Bible says is that our righteousness is filthy rags.

That means that the most perfect, pious person still falls infinitely short of really measuring up to what it means to be truly accepted into the kingdom.

So I think it's important for us to recognize that no matter what our um uh behavior adjustments are, those things do not in and of themselves earn us salvation.

So when we look at what what Jesus is saying and he begins to kind of use this kingdom language, it's important for us, I think, to understand, like, well, okay, if we're gonna use kingdom language, and this is something that I had to like really make a shift to for me, is that I think a lot of times we we can truly embrace what that means when we understand how we relate to Jesus.

I think what's important for us is that a lot of times we end up reducing Jesus to, okay, he's the baby that was born, man, let's celebrate Christmas and everybody gets gifts.

Um, we have these other holidays in which we celebrate some of these like milestones, which are great, but we end up reducing Jesus to these culturally accepted holidays without recognizing that he is a king.

And and and Megan and I have recently been watching television shows that shows like a king.

And again, in our Western context, we don't often think about that.

Right.

But when you actually see it on display, you see that there's reverence, there's respect, there's honor, there's there's there's loyalty, there's there's something that's connected to the fact that, oh, this is how you treat a king when you see them.

Yeah, I think sometimes we lose sight of the fact that yes, Jesus is our savior, yes, he provides healing, yes, he provides salvation, but that's all built on the foundation of the fact that Jesus is our king.

And if we don't recognize that Jesus is our king, we'll forever keep him reduced to, okay, Jesus is my my savior.

Lord, can you keep saving me?

No, but he's a king.

And so that means that that king is going to require some loyalty from me.

That king is gonna require me.

I know that the king is gonna deliver on his promises, but I also have got to make sure that I'm surrendered and submitted under the king as well.

So I think what it means is it's like it's not meant to be a transaction, but it is meant to be transformational where I recognize that that Jesus is my king.

And that's something that I really haven't thought about.

We use kingdom language, but if there's a kingdom, then that means that there must be a king.

And here's the thing.

And if we're inside of the kingdom, that means that that kingdom has a land, that kingdom has a people, that kingdom has a law or a word that governs it.

These are all components that are important for us in order to truly be a part of any kingdom.

So that means that if Jesus is king and I'm part of the kingdom, then that means that I can take him at his word, but I also have to examine his word to know what his word requires of me as well.

It's this mutual thing that all works together.

Yeah, and one of the one of the biggest responsibilities of a king is to protect his kingdom.

So a lot of times we look at salvation as a one and done deal.

Okay, I'm saved, I'm good, all right, let's move on.

Yeah.

Um, however, uh I'm I I truly believe that Jesus is continually saving us in in a sense because he has um he's protecting us from from the world, you know what I mean?

But in order for him to be able to do that, we need to adhere to what you were talking about.

Yeah, absolutely.

Well, like you were saying, uh I think a lot of times we treat it like a one and done thing.

And it's like, okay, I I check the box, I I have the fire insurance, I I, you know, I'm good.

But what does it require of me?

And I think that a lot of times we treat salvation like if somebody gave me a free car, but I left it in my garage and I never drove it, you know what I mean?

Like, but it's like, oh yeah, I got this free car, it's this free gift.

But if we never like learn how to operate it, we never like take it out of the car, we never learn how to drive, then like we're not living in the fullness of the gift that we have.

Right.

And so I think it's that in those demonstrations, like you were saying, Pastor Keith, that help us to show like Jesus, we're in too.

Like you were all in, but here's my heart, here's where I'm uh how I'm gonna show you my loyalty.

Yeah, absolutely.

I love go ahead.

I love how she you you use demonstrations because a lot of times we we have prayer and we have worship.

And how many times have we come into church where we just go in and we're like, oh, you know, I'm about to worship, but I'm tired.

I had this bad week.

I don't like this, but there's not a reverence.

There's not we don't walk in with the reverence for the king.

We don't have them, or when we go into prayer, it's just like, oh, here are my knees, Lord.

Instead of us doing that, like, are we praying to the king?

We're like giving him the praise.

Thank you for being the king of kings and the lord of lords.

Thank you for just saving my soul.

Like those coming to him like that and doing that reverence uh in those acts of demonstration first instead of looking after our our needs and um other needs first.

Absolutely.

Yeah, the beautiful thing about uh about rebirth is I mean, think think about infancy, you know, and and and we don't have to have it all figured out right at the beginning.

You know, you you move into adolescent stage and then you move into adulthood.

It it starts to get uh concerning when you're an adult and you're still living infancy, but that's right, but that's that's the beautiful thing about rebirth is it's literally a new process and and you have to follow that process along it and be willing to accept that grace along that process.

Yes.

And I think that's what the beautiful thing about the kingdom is, is that literally like going into the kingdom, it requires it requires a paradigm shift.

It requires us to look at things differently, to look at one another differently.

See, I think one of the biggest flaws that I would say that we currently wrestle with in the context of salvation is that we've allowed it to become so individualistic.

It's like, and and and here's the thing, like, yes, I have to surrender and be loyal to King Jesus myself.

But unfortunately, when I don't recognize that my walk with God is much bigger than myself, I can lose sight of the responsibility that I have for us as a community.

Here's the thing that you'll see in scripture you will never see whenever an individual was called out that it's just about them.

Even when we see that it's Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, it was about the family.

They were names that were connected to a family.

Even when we get into the New Testament, these are names that are connected to family.

So I think when we reduce um salvation down to just being exclusively about me, it can actually create like this inward belief system that then allows us to have some of the stuff we talked about last week where I can have selective and subjective truth because it's all about me.

But when I realize that actually I'm being invited into a kingdom, and now that we are the people of that kingdom, we actually have a shared responsibility to all contribute to this.

I gotta know that I can depend on you in the same way you can depend on me.

But if I'm an individual that's working out my salvation exclusively just for me, that's where you can have these crazy um conflicts within an individual, such as I can be saved but still be racist.

That doesn't exist in the kingdom, like you can't because but if I don't recognize that I have a shared responsibility and we're all part of the family of God, I can keep my my prejudices, I can keep my preferences, I can keep all those things and yet still claim Jesus.

But what Jesus is saying is you have to have a complete paradigm shift.

And so what many will call it is they call it the upside down kingdom, where that's why he says, the first shall be last and the last shall be first.

Blessed are the poor.

Like Jesus is showing us that inside of my kingdom, the things that the world actually minimizes and passes judgment on are also the things that I actually highlight.

So we have to recognize that we have the shared responsibility.

So I think that's a key piece of recognizing that when we're in the family of God, that we have shared responsibility.

It's not just about me, it's not just about you, but we're in this thing together.

So I think that's a beautiful thing about being in the family of God and being part of this community.

Yeah.

Uh, this is a plug for the Bible project.

So you're welcome.

They have a great video on the kingdom of God, and I think it may be even a series of videos.

Um, but it really does a great job to illuminate this this topic and to to help you understand what it means to live in the kingdom.

So um there we believe that there's a next step for everyone.

Yes.

And and we believe that uh, like I said earlier, no matter you've been walking with Jesus for 10 days, 10 decades, or you're not at all, uh, you have a next step.

So can you can you help the person who is not walking with Jesus take the next step?

And then maybe the person who has been for a long time who thinks, well, what do I have, what do I have left to do?

For sure.

I think, man, that's that's a great question.

I'm glad you framed it that way.

So what I love about this text is um in verse 14, I believe it is, where Jesus talks about um, as Moses as as Moses lifted up the serpent, so the Son of Man must be lifted up.

If I'm lifted up, I'll draw all men to me.

And so this he's he's making an allusion to to Numbers chapter 21, and and and we don't have time to get into it, but ultimately, if you go back and look at that text, you'll see that there were these fiery serpents, serpents that were literally in the camp that were biting the Israelites, venom, and they were dying.

Numbers 21 · chapter mention

Worst nightmare.

Yeah, like literally same, same.

When I moved to Florida like years and years ago, that was the thing.

Alligators and snakes.

That was the thing that we were like, my mom was confident that alligators were in our yard and that snakes were all around.

Like, it's like, man, make sure like your kids are outside playing, they're gonna get eaten by alligators.

Like that was just the that was just a normal thing.

One of the houses that we went to, there was actually a snake at the door.

So of course we didn't take that house.

Yeah, we look at that as a sign from heaven.

We're looking for our house in our first house.

That was the Lord.

When we walked up, we saw a snake.

I'm like, nope, let's go.

Like, you sure?

I'm like, I'm positive.

It probably the most perfect house.

But I'm like, nah, man, that's a sign from God.

So, so in in this passage, you see that there's these serpents that are that are amongst the camp and that people are are being bitten.

So that's venom, they're dying.

And so that solution was let's craft this bronze serpent.

Bronze is a sign of judgment.

Let's craft this judgment and let's lift it up and have the people look.

And as long as they look at it, they will be cleansed and purified of the venom that they had inherited.

This is the this is what Jesus is talking about.

He said, as Moses lifted up the serpent, so must the Son of Man be lifted up.

What Jesus is saying is, I will become sin, I will take the judgment, that bronze, I'll take on the wrath of God and I'll be lifted up.

But what our responsibility is, is to look and live.

If I can look at him, then I can live.

That means that we have to look to Jesus to truly experience life.

And what I think that means for some of us that may be looking to other resources for life that will never be able to deliver on that, would you be willing to shift your perspective?

Would you be willing to look at Jesus for life instead of looking to our education, looking to what's in our bank account, looking at things to try to give us value when we recognize that in the kingdom I have all the value that I need, that I need.

And so here's what I believe our next step is.

I believe our next step is simply to acknowledge that Jesus, He took that judgment, to acknowledge that Jesus is Lord, to recognize that he died on the cross to invite us to be a part of this incredible family.

So in a moment, we're gonna give you an opportunity to do that.

But I also believe that not only for those who are prepared to make that decision, but for those of us amongst our community that are walking with God, like you said, 10 days, 10 decades, whatever that looks like, we still have a next step.

And I think those next steps are how are we demonstrating our loyalty to our King?

I think that again, we we have these different approaches to our belief systems where do I have to work to be saved?

No.

However, because I am saved, it should be seen in the work that I do.

I I remember um many years ago before I got into ministry where I was in the elevator at um at a previous job that I had, um, and there was an individual who just was known for just having like a just a bad attitude.

Like it was known across like we all know those people that work at the place where it's like, man, like I it's really hard to show the consistent love of Jesus to this individual.

That's kind of the kind of individual that this was.

Um and so we're in the elevator, and um, it's just me and that individual, and I was just waiting, I'm like, God, of all the people.

And so I'm literally thinking to myself, like, okay, how can I, how can I show the love of Jesus?

How can I be kind?

And this person turned to me because it was around Easter time and said, Hey, would you mind, do you want to um come to my church this Sunday for Easter services?

So I heard you say, hmm, like, oh, that's cool.

Here was my reaction.

I was thinking, I didn't even know you were saved, much less we're pastoring a church.

Wow.

In other words, there was no behavior that showed that you really are living a life that makes what you're inviting me to be a part of attractive.

And so, what I believe for us as believers, all of us have a next step.

But my question is, how are we demonstrating that we are a part of the kingdom of God and that we are loyal to the king?

So, of course, here at Celebration, there are things that we do to demonstrate that we take communion, and that's our way of remembering what Jesus did on the cross and inviting us to be a part of the salvation journey.

And what we know is we do this every Sunday.

We believe in uh Sabbath, which is an important way of us acknowledging that Jesus is Lord of our time and of our resources.

We can trust him.

Those are demonstrations.

Um, but also baptisms.

So, Becca, I know we have some baptisms that are coming up.

Yeah, we have Baptism Sunday coming up soon, um, which is gonna be really exciting.

We know that right now it isn't gonna look like it usually does, but we're gonna have options for if you need to stay at home.

I mean, baptism in the bathtub is gonna be a thing.

Or if you want to be baptized in community, or if you want to join us on the beach for beach baptisms, uh, we're gonna have lots of options.

So if that's something that you're interested in, you can email baptism at celebrationorl.org.

And we'll get you hooked up with the information.

Absolutely.

It's gonna be great.

And and here's the beautiful thing about baptism is like that's not just uh an addition to our faith.

Like, okay, I'll get baptized whenever, but we have to understand that that was like a major deal.

Like it's like a declaration and saying that I am in the kingdom of God.

Like I this is this is this is what I am saying that I'm loyal to.

I like to look at our walk with God like this.

Like, the reason why Paul like connects this idea of our walk with God to marriage is because I think that's like the closest earthly thing that we can relate to, where you have highs and lows, but you're committed.

At least, at least we should be.

And here's a beautiful thing like Megan and I we're married, we've been in this thing for a long time, and so we we know each other and we spend time with each other, and I I know what she's thinking, she knows what I'm thinking.

But the beautiful thing is like there should be some behavior to show that I love her.

Yeah, there should be some behavior to show that I'm committed to her.

Yeah, like if I was still living like a single man but claiming to be loyal to my wife, that would be a conflict on a multiplicity of levels because she would probably cut me.

Um But so I so I think Paul creates this illustration to help us understand, like in the same way, that there should be um some demonstrations and things that you're doing to show that you are loyal to the one that you love, that's the exact same thing it is in the kingdom of God.

Yeah, and and the Bible even points to it, you know, uh there's a there's a verse that says, Um, God demonstrated his love for us and not why we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

So it's okay for me to know that God loves me, but God actually showed me that he loved me by sending his son.

So if we are to emulate God, then we have to do what God does.

And that is to demonstrate our love for others.

1000%.

So, what I think that means for for some of us that may be watching this, wherever you're watching it, whenever you're watching it, and you're saying, like, Keith, now that I have a little bit of an understanding, here's the beautiful thing: like this pursuit of understanding God, godliness, the kingdom of God, this is something that we continue to pursue.

Kind of like we're saying about truth.

This is not something that you check the box and say, I got that all figured out.

Like, we're on this journey for the rest of our days.

But if you know that your next step is to accept that invitation, like we have to look at the cross as this brutal but beautiful instrument that that Jesus used to, in essence, to propose for us to spend eternity with him.

Yeah, he literally laid his life down, similar to an altar, and saying, Would you accept this invitation to spend eternity with me?

Not not as a person who is lower than me, even though we are, but to be treated as equals.

That's why like this communion thing is so important is that we all come to the table as equals.

And for some of us that are watching right now, maybe you know like that is your next step.

What I think is so beautiful about the the story of Nicodemus is that of course he shows up here in John chapter three with questions and he's trying to press process through what does this really all mean.

But he shows up again in John chapter seven.

And the context of that is like the Pharisees are trying to figure out a way to judge Jesus, how they can put him to death.

And this is the moment where Nicodemus speaks up and says, Is it lawful for us to judge a man without us measuring and making sure that he did something wrong?

Now, that seems like such a small sentence, but what Nicodemus did is he put his life on a line, his livelihood on a line, by openly standing against his brothers and saying, We're casting judgment on someone who has shown that he is not fitting this criteria that you guys are looking for, that Jesus is, there's something about him.

So John was, I mean, so so Nicodemus was really putting his life on a line.

But then the most beautiful part of it is in John chapter 19.

John 19 · chapter mention

This is after Jesus is crucified on the cross, and the Bible says that Joseph Arimathea goes and he begs for the body of Christ and he comes down.

The person that was with him was Nicodemus.

And he was there to provide anointing oil and to give to make sure that the body of Jesus was preserved.

So here's what we see with Nicodemus' progression: there's a man who has questions, who's trying to understand what the salvation thing is.

Then we see the next step where there's a man who openly supports and defends Jesus.

And then lastly, we see a man who wants to be associated with Jesus' death.

Here's the beautiful thing about this journey that we're on.

I think that we all have had questions.

There are all times that we've gone public, but that final step is saying that I am okay with being associated with the death of Jesus because at the end of the day, the gospel is an invitation for us to lay down our lives, to deny ourselves, to take up the cross, and to follow Jesus.

And it's the most beautiful, messy, but rewarding journey we could ever be on.

So if that's you and you recognize that my next step is simply to surrender my life to Jesus, to accept this proposal from Jesus, to spend eternity with him, we want to pray with you.

You know, the Bible tells us in Romans chapter 10 that if we confess with our mouths and believe in our hearts that Jesus came, that he died on the cross, and that he rose from the dead, that that is the criteria for salvation.

Romans 10 · chapter mention

That's the beautiful thing.

We don't have to work for it.

All you gotta do is say yes.

When I proposed to Megan, she didn't have to work for it.

All she had to do was say yes, and I know that she is so grateful that she did.

As is he.

Yeah, it worked out.

So here's what I want to do.

I want to lead us in a prayer, and then I want us to go into communion and then we'll we'll wrap.

Um, but let's let's pray this prayer together.

Um, Lord, I want to thank you so much for dying on the cross for me.

I repent of my sins, and I believe that you died on the cross and that you rose from the dead, and it's because of that belief I am saved.

Lord, fill me with your spirit and order my steps in Jesus' name.

Amen.

What we truly believe is that that declaration, those words that are in alignment with your heart, those are the things that allows you to be born again into the kingdom of God.

And so we want to welcome you into family.

And I and I would invite you to get connected to community.

If you did make that decision, you could you can text.

What's the number they can text?

25101.

The word decides.

There it is.

25101.

And what'll happen is um our incredible team will respond and we'll give you resources that will help you on this journey because we know that our next step is to continue to grow and to learn what God's word says about us and to recognize the dignity that Jesus provides for us and to begin this beautiful journey.

The thing that I've recognized for myself is that you just can't do it on your own.

We're now in a family and we all can depend on one another.

So we want to celebrate that with you.

And so now the best way for us to close out the service is by actually partaking in communion together, which is um something one of my favorite things to do every single week.

So, as we grab our communion elements here, I'm gonna go ahead and invite you to grab yours if you have yours at home.

And um, you can pause this if you want um to as you go and get your elements, but but as we shared, like these communion elements are so powerful.

And as we talked about this, the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross, him laying his life down and and his body being broken so that we can experience wholeness.

That's language that's connected to salvation, wholeness, healing, freedom.

These are all words that are that are often used to define um what it means to be in a family of God.

So that's what this bread represents is Jesus laying his life down on that altar, but inviting us to now be equal, sitting at the table all together, unified together, diversity, but all equal.

So as a family and as a community, let's take the bread and um and recognize and celebrate the finished work of Christ.

And so now we have the the juice and and Jesus said that this is his his shed blood.

And he said without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sin.

Like it's the it's the death of Jesus.

That's somehow in his own beautiful way.

That was the covering so that when God looks at us, he no longer sees our.

Flaws.

He no longer sees our brokenness.

He no longer sees the barriers that keep us from being in the presence of a holy and perfect God.

He sees us through the lens of the blood of Jesus, which means that he only sees his son when he looks at us.

We didn't have to earn it.

We didn't have to do anything for it.

We just had to accept it and be loyal to it.

So as we partake of this together, let's do this in remembrance of what Jesus has done for us.

Let me pray for us.

Lord, we're so thankful for this beautiful gift of salvation.

Lord, your word declares that it's a free gift and that none of us can boast.

Our responsibility is to simply receive and accept what you're extending to us.

And as such, we are able to be a part of your beautiful family.

So, God, we're grateful.

We're thankful that you would extend this invitation.

Father, as we wrestle through questions, as we process through what it looks like for us to demonstrate our faith to you, Lord, we recognize that it is your spirit that empowers us, that enables us to walk this walk out.

We don't have to do it on our own.

So, God, I pray that you bless us, bless this time that we had together, and bless our community in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Church, thank you so much again for joining us today.

Uh, we're just so thankful that uh you're a part of our family.

If you did make that decision, welcome to the family.

Uh, we love you guys, and we'll see you next week.

Thanks again for listening.

We hope you enjoyed today's message.

We'd love for you to subscribe to our podcast and review and share what you heard today.

If you'd like more content like this, or you'd like to connect with us, go to celebrationorl.org.

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