Hebrews 5:7–10 | Resolved: Jesus: More Than Example, But Not Less

Speaker: I noticed this week, um, in fact the last couple weeks that

we basically live in the future.

I don't know how many of you're old enough to remember the Dick Tracy watches.

Those are the coolest things I could think of when I was a kid.

I thought, how awesome would it be to talk on my wrist and have someone on

the other side hear it and respond.

I just thought that was the coolest idea ever.

So I got a walkie talkie and I taped it to my wrist.

Did not work the same, but it had the same idea today.

Now we have not only what Dick Tracy had, but even better, you can send all sorts

of fun stuff through just your wrist and through your communication efforts.

Not only that, uh, last week Pastor Mark

car drove us to Dallas.

And it did so without any issue.

There were several people in the car.

It was myself, it was Pastor pj, pastor Mark of course, and Ali Trinidad.

We were driving to Dallas for this conference and the car navigated

us through all sorts of obstacles.

It did a fantastic job too.

I was really impressed.

Pastor Mark was just sitting there doing nothing and the

car did like 99% of the work.

Really impressive.

I also remember that last week.

I had an AI agent, a computer, do several administrative tasks for me.

I didn't touch, I instructed it.

I gave in instructions, but then I said, okay, now go do the thing.

And it did all the things and it did a really great job.

I was really impressed at the fact that my computer can now work for me and allow

me to do the things that I wanted do.

So while it was doing my administrative work, I was working on the sermon.

It was amazing.

Uh, I also remember,

I also remember that last week, twice, maybe three times.

My groceries delivered to my doorstep.

I was there.

I was just, I, I opened the door and there was my groceries, my milk,

my eggs, my water bottles, all the things that we get a normal basis.

Were sitting there just waiting for me, and then I

recognized I live in the future.

Everything that I dreamed about as a boy, about what the future would

look like minus the flying cars.

They lied about that.

Everything else though, is pretty phenomenal and one of the key features of

our futuristic society is that so much.

Of the friction in our life has been altogether removed.

A lot of the things that were inconvenient before are now made

accessible and easy and, and con and convenient, as convenient can be.

Now, those three words actually I think describe a lot of what we

encounter on a day to day basis.

Easy, accessible and convenient.

Easy accessible convenience to get into a car and have it drive you somewhere.

That's easy, very accessible.

In fact, I saw in terms of accessibility.

I saw that there was this, uh, 90 some odd year old lady who bought a Tesla for

the express purpose of having that Tesla drive her around town in a safe way.

And so a, a once previously immobile lady is now being able to mobilely get around

because she has accessible technology.

Easy, accessible convenience.

I can't think of anything more convenient than having my

groceries delivered to my door.

That's it.

That's as convenient.

As convenient, can be easy, accessible, and convenient.

Would describe a lot of the way that we live today.

Uh, not everything surely, but a lot of that, and that's precisely the danger for

all of us because when that becomes the normal operation of your life, it subtly

becomes a normal expectation of your life.

And now you begin to assume that things in your life should be

easy, accessible, and convenience.

And it's not very far.

Hop skipping a jump to get from that idea to your walk with God.

It doesn't take a lot for you to think that your relationship with

God has been conditioned by your normal everyday experience to be

easy, accessible, and convenience.

And yet what we're gonna find out is that Jesus does not give us that

expectation about our walk with Him.

It is anything but easy, accessible, or convenience.

In fact, often when we think about Jesus, we do think about him as our

savior, our high priest, and those are totally right, but we often

forget that Jesus is also Lord.

He is not just the, the savior and high priest, uh, he is our Lord.

He is not only our example, he's more than our example, but he is our example.

And what I want us to see this morning as we prepare to open our Bibles to Hebrews

chapter five, is that Jesus sets for us an example that is dictated by his life.

Jesus says, the perfect man shows us what it looks like to be a man who's being

perfected, A man who's growing in grace.

He's gonna show us that it's not easy, accessible, or convenient, but rather.

And he shows us the hard path.

But it's a good one.

The path that makes us most alive.

The path that makes us mostly, uh, most manlike.

The path that shows us, thank you.

The path that shows us what it means to be a disciple maturing in Christ.

So we're gonna follow his model.

Now, remember, Jesus is more than our example.

He's more than him.

Lots of people will say Jesus is a great moral figure that you should follow.

We say that too.

As Christians, we would say amen to them.

But we don't stop at that.

We don't say that.

He's only our moral example.

We say he's much more, he is our high priest.

He is our savior.

He is our Lord, but he is also our example.

One of the reasons why this is important for you and I, as I said before, we, we

are in a world where everything is easy, accessible, and convenient, but there's

certain temptations that you and I, I think I can identify most of us in this

room where you and I will battle two.

Two results of that conditioning.

Your mental conditioning results in a few things.

And here's what I'm gonna say, uh, no matter what your age is, you're gonna

find the, the mental conditioning of entitlement and deserving, uh,

entitlement and deserving here.

Here's what I mean by that.

If you're younger, you might think of it like this.

Um.

I am entitled to enjoy my teenage years.

I'm entitled to enjoy my, my, my youthfulness, uh, all work in no play

makes Jack a doll, boy, as they say.

So I'm entitled to live a little more recklessly because I'm young.

And so when I become older, when I, when I get older and maybe I start

seriously dating, then I'll think about getting serious with God and getting

serious about owning my faith and not just letting it be my parents' faith.

Now I'll get serious about growing up in my maturity.

Uh, once I have my own apartment, once I no longer have to care for my own room,

I want to care or care for just my room.

I'll, I'll grow up when I, when I grow up, I'll get older.

When I'm older, as the thinking might go.

In their case, discipleship is postponed until after they're done

doing whatever they want to do.

That's easy to see in a young mindset.

What about for those of us who are, let's say, seasoned, seasoned mindset?

And that's most of you in this room, and I'm gonna qualify under

that heading, seasoned mindset might say something like this, I've

earned the right to take it easy.

I deserve to kick my feet up.

Um, my gray hair shows that I've lived life enough to, to do things a little

differently than everybody else.

Uh, what's true about us, and God has given us this, is that men are

often willing to pay the price.

Early in life, we've learned, at least at some age, that when you

put the front work in, a lot of the results down the road are enjoyable.

You know, you save for so many years, you get to see that your

retirement fund is now, uh, producing a lot of interest for you.

And, you know, you worked for so many years and now you've, uh,

obtained a certain level of notoriety and accomplishment in your career.

Uh, maybe you're sought after for your expertise in this thing and that thing.

And so you, you can easily and adopt a mindset of saying, I, I paid the price.

It's now my turn to reap.

Uh, I've already paid enough.

But again, this isn't the model that Jesus sets for us.

He tells us the opposite.

He says, we gotta be willing to pay the price.

How often?

Jesus says, take up your cross daily, pay the price.

Daily.

Temptation for us isn't laziness, man.

It really is.

Something along the lines of quiet, quitting.

You've heard of this term?

Quiet, quitting a quiet retirement.

Uh, a sense of I've done enough.

Let the young guys do the work now, or I've done enough.

Uh, I I deserve to be pampered a little bit.

Um, and then there's, there's nothing wrong with taking breaks, but there

is something wrong with saying, I'm gonna turn in my retirement check early

and check out from what the church is asking or what more specifically.

But Christ's asking, lemme just give you a couple examples

of what this might look like.

One area is maybe the delegating of spiritual leadership to your bride got

incredibly godly woman in your life.

God has gifted you with a woman who is exceptional.

And maybe you're tempted to let her carry the spiritual leadership in your family.

So instead of taking the initiative to pray with your family, to lead

your kids in prayer and discipleship, you say, well, she's really good

at it and she also knows the Bible better than I do, so I'm gonna let her

take the lead in this another area.

You might seize this, you know, and perhaps, let me just add to this.

Perhaps you might even say to yourself, well, man, I, I put in a lot of work.

I've worked 10 hours today and I don't want to come home and do this.

You know, I, I'd like her to do that.

I, I, I deserve a break.

I deserve some time for myself and to recharge my batteries.

Maybe, uh, another area is showing up to church and saying, no, I, I was part

of all these, I was part of a church plan before, and so I know what it is to

submit a lot of time and energy to it, and I've earned some time to sit back

and let, let other people do the job.

Um, dangerous thinking, isn't it?

Uh, this kind of mindset can percolate and, uh, can grow.

When, when, uh, for any sinner really, but especially when we're, we're

given the world where everything is easy, accessible, and convenience.

Again, Jesus calls us to a life of discipleship.

That's anything but those things.

And in so many areas of our life, we might be tempted no to no longer pay the

price to check out early to quit before God has told you it's time to quit.

So what I want you to see here is how this attitude is, uh, really contrasted

in the life of Jesus earthly ministry.

Hebrews chapter five is where we're gonna be.

Verses seven through nine.

Can you just turn that one?

It's time.

Just this back and forth.

That's all.

Thank you.

All right.

You're good?

You're good for now.

Alright.

Hebrews chapter five, uh, as you, as I prepare to get in there.

All right.

We're gonna see, um.

How Jesus pays the price in three areas.

You're gonna see him pay the price by his praying, his suffering,

and his submitting, his praying, his suffering, and his submitting.

We're gonna see those three things in Jesus' life.

And from those three things, I'm gonna show you what I hope to be, something

helpful, to encourage you to keep paying the price today, to see Jesus as more

than an example, yes, but not less than to encourage and edify your faith and

to encourage you to not stop taking up the cross, to follow after Christ.

Your manhood is always gonna be challenged.

We're always gonna be tempted to be lazy or lethargic or to sit

back and be passive, but Jesus calls us to something different.

Let's take a look at that.

Now we're gonna read it together, Matthew, excuse me.

Hebrews chapter five, verses seven through 10.

It says this, in the days of his flesh, Jesus offered, offered up prayers and

supplications with loud cries and tears to him who was able to save him from death,

and he was heard because of his reverence.

Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he

suffered and being made perfect.

He became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him.

Let's just finish the sentence here in verse 10.

Being designated by God, a high priest after the odor of milk Zeek.

Okay.

Several things I need you to know as we jump into this text.

Number one, chapter five of Hebrews is about Jesus high priesthood.

You saw it there in verse 10.

Jesus is a high priest after the order of melek, which just means that

he's part of a different priesthood that Israel previously did not know.

His priesthoods supersedes what was before.

Uh, Hebrews chapter five is a way to identify Jesus as a high priest, and he's

the perfect, well suited high priest.

He is qualified to serve in this role, and this is part of what the.

Preacher in Hebrews is trying to show you he's a better high priest.

He's a qualified high priest, and here's some of the ways that

he functions as a high priest.

Now, let's just quickly remind ourselves, in case you're a little less familiar, the

high priesthood of Israel was meant to be someone who mediates between God and man.

The high priest was to go in the high, uh, the Holy of Holies once

a year to offer a sacrifice and to make it to him and for the people.

The book of Hebrews is trying to show that Jesus is the

superior and better high priest.

Uh, more than that.

He's also the, he's also our savior, but he's high priest.

He's qualified to be our go-between, to be the connection between God and man.

And so here, then we zoom in on a particular moment in Jesus life.

And what I think is happening in chapter five, verse seven

through nine, is a reference to Jesus suffering in the garden.

You might remember that in the garden, he's praying to the father and he's

weeping tears, and his, he's sweating drops like, great, uh, sweating.

Like great drops of blood.

And so here we have a, a, a time capsule of what it looked like for

Jesus to mediate between us and God.

Uh, this little section also shows us what his ministry looked like.

In fact, the beginning of verse seven, take a look at that again.

You'll notice there's a time marker there that you can't miss.

Well, you should've missed, at least Verse seven says, in the days of his

flesh, which tells us this is a particular moment in Jesus ministry life, this

isn't about his exalted status right now.

This isn't about his consummated status as the, as the king

over the millennial kingdom.

This is about a particular moment in human history when Jesus was.

Preparing to sacrifice himself on the cross.

This is in the days of his flesh.

Uh, this time marker emphasizes his humanity important because

that's gonna play a big role.

For Jesus to be our high priest, he had to be full of human.

So in his humanity as a full man, he accomplishes, uh, he

accomplishes our salvation.

Keep that peace in mind.

He does this in full dependence upon the father through the power of the spirit.

I should say that.

But let me just point out to you one thing here in a second half verse seven.

Notice what Jesus is doing in the days of his flesh before being

exalted, before being, uh, lifted high by the Father, Jesus offered

up prayers and supplications.

This is exactly what you should expect from a high priest.

This is his job.

He prays for you.

He intercedes for you.

This is what Jesus does, and he does it supremely if we're gonna pay the

press like Jesus, remember, he's.

Not, uh, he is our example, but he is, he is, he is our example,

but he's not less than that.

Um, so we do acknowledge he is our high priest, but if we're gonna

take cues from Jesus about what it looks like to live well, we're

gonna, number one, pray like Jesus.

Let's just pray like Jesus.

If we're going to recognize that Jesus is more than our example,

but not less, we need to say, okay, we need to pray like Jesus.

And, and, and it's important for you to see first of all, that Jesus does pray.

The son of God and son of man prayed.

He took time out of his schedule ministering to people and

teaching the masses to pray.

And I'm gonna argue here that this is a prayer of desperation.

He, he resolves to pray and he resolves to pray in light of the fact that it was

not easy, accessible, or convenience.

Jesus was sought after people were running to meet him at his destination

where when he was out at sea, they went to the port that he was gonna

come into and they waited for him.

Talk about having no time to breathe.

They were so bent on getting Jesus' attention that even as Jesus is

mourning the loss of his cousin, John the Baptist, they come and

find him in the wilderness and they have needs that are ready to be met.

And Jesus doesn't look at them and say, guys, I just need a break to grieve.

Please let me just have a few hours alone.

And instead, no, he ministers to them.

Because his ministry life was so impacted, he would take time alone in

the morning to just spend time with God.

He'd wake up really early while it was still dark.

Mark chapter one says, and he would spend time with the father.

So Jesus prays.

You see that part of what Jesus is showing us here again, uh, he, he's more than

our model of prayer because he's our intercessor, but he's not less than that.

He also models for us what it looks like to be a true, fully human man.

Well, I want you to notice the way that he prays though.

Take a look here in verse seven, he prays how with loud cries and tears.

Jesus is not a dispassionate high priest.

He's not interceding with indifference.

Here, I I want you to think about this.

How would, how would the author of Hebrews know this if this is as I suspect Jesus

in the Garden the night before, he was about to be betrayed and given into the

hands of the Romans to be crucified.

How do they know that?

He prayed with loud cries and tears.

I'm gonna make two guesses that I, I, I think are textual.

You can follow, follow along with me if, if you think this is fitting.

Number one.

I think because the disciples had had access to Jesus, they

had access to his prayer life.

You might remember in Luke chapter 11, they said, Jesus teaches us how to pray.

Luke 11 · chapter mention

They found something so remarkable about his preaching.

Uh, so remarkable about his praying, rather, that they asked him,

please show us how you do this.

So they had access to his prayer life, and I would wager they

knew that Jesus was a man who.

Prayed with loud cries and tears.

I think this is a regular feature, or at least it hints at that.

Secondly, if this is a Garden of Gethsemane, he did call

three to come along with him.

Remember those guys, Peter, James, and John, are invited to be part of his inner

circle, so as he's praying, preparing to die, he says, come along with me guys.

Watch and pray with me.

The text says they fell asleep.

You know the story, but I don't know that they were sleeping the whole time

because it wouldn't take a lot to say.

Oh.

I hear loud cries and tears.

Maybe Jesus, on the night that he was about to be betrayed was piercing the

night sky with his cries and he was not concealing them, crying quietly,

as we might do if we're trying to be subtle and not let people know that

we're, you know, shedding tears.

Jesus is crying with loud cries and tears.

This is full on crying.

I think his disciples might have hurt him and passed it on.

He prayed with passion.

A couple points about that.

Then if we're gonna pray like Jesus, that really does mean we need to be

able to pray honestly with vulnerability and honesty and vulnerability is

not part of our manhood culture.

At least not today.

I, I was watching, uh, little House in the Prairie with my kids.

I've been watching it for a long time now.

It's my first time making it through.

I mean, please don't judge me for that.

I know it's not the Manly a show to watch.

I picked it up 'cause it was clean go.

You can understand that, right?

You can sympathize.

I picked it up 'cause it was clean and I could enjoy it with my family.

Great storytelling by the way.

But here's what's consistent about this show.

It constantly pulls on the, on the harsh dreams.

It's a dad who loves his family, who wants to protect his wife and lead his

girls and, and do right in the society.

And constantly, I'm challenged because it, it starts pulling tears outta my eyes.

And I probably do what you do.

I hold it in.

Don't, this is, this is just a TV show.

I don't need them to see me crying for these things.

I get a little embarrassed when I get emotional at a TV show.

I don't know about you, but look at Jesus here.

I don't think Jesus is embarrassed about the full expression of his emotions here.

I don't think Jesus is embarrassed about being honest with

what's happening in his heart.

I think real manhood, as Jesus depicts it, is emotionally available, and that's

just indicated by the way that he prays.

He's honest with the father.

He's not pretending to be something he's not.

He's laying it out as it is, and I wonder if anyone's given you the permission

to be that way with your father.

If you're praying like Jesus, here's what I can tell you about your prayer life.

You're not pulling punches.

That doesn't mean you're being disrespectful.

Doesn't mean that you're telling God what to do, but it is saying, I want

to take the time to be real with you.

God, and being real with a father is as hard as it is to be real

with your bride or with your kids.

It takes time, it takes energy, it takes slowness.

It takes you being willing to say, I'm not gonna rush this.

I need to, I need to give you what you're due.

If you go on a date with your wife, you're not starting.

Your clock is okay.

One hour go.

What's going on in your life?

Okay, we gotta get home now.

We gotta go.

You're not gonna rush you.

These things take time, and sometimes we rush God because we've got things to do.

We don't get the time that it needs, and, and that's why in part, we're

not emotionally available to the Lord.

And when that happens, again, you're conditioning yourself

to act in certain ways.

You're developing certain patterns of expression that's going to bleed onto your

wife, kids, your friends, your neighbors.

Jesus is emotionally connected to the Father.

Obviously, if this is the night he's going to be betrayed, he's,

it's gonna be intense about it.

He cries, he wails.

He makes it evident, I'm telling you, is you have to cry about everything.

I don't think Jesus cried about everything, but I can tell you.

I can guarantee there are things in your life that you probably

should shed some tears about.

Should not could, but you should.

There have been a handful of times in my life when I've been so moved

with love or concern for someone that the tears have been pulled out and I

wonder if the same can be true for you.

Have you shed tears over your children's salvation or your grandchildren?

Have you prayed for your wife with the kind of intensity that says, Lord

I, I need her to grow in these areas.

I care about her, her holiness.

I care about her looking like you.

I care about my love for her.

Lord, forgive me.

Have you ever been so grieved by your sin that you're willing

to cry tears over those things?

Have you ever loved the savior so much that you communicate that love

with tears of joy, tears of gratitude?

Again, you don't have to do this every day.

I'm not saying that I'm, I'm putting a burden on you.

You should cry more often, gentlemen.

I'm just saying.

Jesus communicates to the Father with a real authenticity and intensity,

and that was a part of his life.

I suspect we gonna pray like Jesus.

That means we're gonna have to be willing to spend time with him, to give him the

honor and the deference that he deserves.

Well, notice who Jesus prays to here.

Let's make a quick comment about this.

Jesus prays.

To the father.

That's who's being referred to, to him, who was able to save him from death.

Just real quick, every prayer that is recorded of Jesus is directed to the

Father, not the Spirit, spirit son of you.

Every prayer in the Bible that Jesus is recorded as saying is to the Father,

I think that's instructive for us.

Your, your prayers ought to be directed to the Father by and large.

Um, and in fact, the way that I've thought about this and I think is

helpful, it's to the father, through the son, by the spirit to the Father,

through the son, by the spirit.

Our prayers are like Jesus meant to be directed to the Father.

In fact, when he tells us to pray, what does he say?

He says, when you pray, say you fill it in our Father.

That's right.

Notice he doesn't tell you to say Our spirit in heaven doesn't

tell you to ask the spirit.

There's nothing wrong with praying to the spirit.

Spirit can't get due, but the spirit's job is to point you

to the father through the son.

So Jesus prays that the Father, that's a good practice for us as well.

Did the father save him from death?

Uh, he was able to save him.

Did he do that?

Well, yes and no.

Right?

Yes and no.

No.

The father did not deliver him from death, at least that death immediately.

But yes, he did deliver him from death and that he a rose him from the death.

And so what we see here again is that Jesus is praying and he effectively prays.

Jesus did get a yes, but it was a yes, but yes, but Son, yes, I will deliver

you from death, but you're still gonna go through the doorway of death.

Why don't you sit for a second and think about how that might

influence the way that you pray and what you expect God to answer you.

You might pray for the job and God might say yes, but, or you

might pray for a different house.

Housing arrangement.

Yes, son, but.

That's what God says to him.

This is the son of God.

Here's a, here's a fun one.

Look at the last part of verse seven.

Why did the father answer Jesus prayers?

There's a lot of answers you could give to that theologically, and

if you're theologically minded, this is gonna be fun for you.

If you're not, you can tune out for like three minutes.

But if you aren't theologically minded, notice here, why did

the father answer Jesus first?

Because of his reverence?

Fascinating.

Biblically speaking.

This is fascinating because he could have said anything else that you

would expect, oh, he's the son of God.

He's gonna get God's ear.

He's perfect in righteousness.

He's gonna get God's ear.

He obeyed the Father to the very end, or as the Old Testament says

about some of the kings, he, he obeyed the Lord with his whole heart.

You would expect to see those things, but yet what you see

here is because of his reverence.

It's not about Jesus' uniqueness as a Son of God and great high priest, none of

that is cited as the reason God heard him.

This is reverence.

I think that's so instructive for us.

I mean, remember, Jesus is more than our example, but he's not less,

his reverence ought to inform ours.

When we go to him and we go to the Father in prayer, what this reverence

refers to is that Jesus didn't make demands for escape or deliverance.

Remember he, he finished the prayer with not as I will, but as you do.

And because of that, he received and accepted the father's painful will.

He revered God enough.

He loved God enough to say, I, I want what you want.

Even if that means I have to walk through the doorway of death.

Several things then from this, this brief verse, praying like Jesus

means trusting the answer God gives.

Let me just encourage you to think about that.

Praying like Jesus means trusting the answer God gives.

Being heard by God does not mean the request is always granted.

That should be evident for those of us who have walked into

the faith for a long season.

Trusting God means trusting the answer he gives and that the

answer isn't always gonna be a yes.

Jesus prayed that the cup would pass from him, but it didn't.

It didn't because praying like Jesus also means pursuing God, not the gift.

Praying like Jesus first means trusting the answer God gives.

Praying like Jesus also means pursuing God in your prayer life.

Prayer is our way of aligning ourselves with God's will rather than telling

him how we want him to align with ours.

And that means us being willing to say, look, I understand that, Lord, you're

gonna do what you're gonna do, but I'm gonna ask you please do these things.

Prayer is primarily relational and not transactional difference.

Transactional is, I drive through the window, I get my order, I pick it up, I

drive out the car, the, the drive through.

Relational is, sweetheart.

Well, let's go to dinner and spend it a couple hours together.

Or I'm gonna take my dad out for dinner and we're gonna just hang

out and enjoy each other's company.

One's relational.

One is transactional.

Prayer is not drive through.

Prayer is, let's sit down and let's, let's talk a while.

Thirdly, prayer is like prayer.

Praying like Jesus means trusting the answer.

God gives praying like Jesus means pursuing God, not gifts, and finally

praying like Jesus means seeing prayer as a combination of two things.

Earn petition.

Absolute deference.

Earn petition.

Absolute deference.

I'm giving my true heart here, but whatever you say, God, I trust you.

If you want me to stay in this dead end job, 'cause you've closed

all my doors, you've hedged me in.

I trust.

If you want me to stay in this relationship, which has been so

taxing for me, I don't get it.

Why they won't change.

I've tried.

I've done everything.

I've been praying.

Lord, if you want me to stay in this relationship, so be it.

Okay, so much more here.

Verse seven sets us up to see that Jesus intercedes for us as our high priest.

He does it with loud cries and tears to him who is able to save him from death,

and he was heard because of his reverence.

But I want you to see something stunningly.

Jesus never appeals to his unique privilege and status

as son or high priest.

He appeals to the father's will.

Look at verse eight.

Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered.

Jesus is more than our example, but he's not less.

Jesus suffered first.

Number two, we need to suffer with Jesus.

Suffer with Jesus.

Although he was a son, that's a critical line there.

Although he was a son, it's a concession that reveals Jesus

experience during his earthly ministry.

Uh, even though he was the son of God, it did not exempt him from

the experience of genuine humanity.

Uh, one of the things that I love doing, um, is when I'm watching

something by myself, I will always hit the skip intro button.

Never, I never wanna see the credits.

I don't care.

Skip intro goes right to the, the good stuff.

But when I'm with my kids, I feel I have an obligation to

make them watch the intro.

Like we're gonna see, we've, we've watched the intro to

Little House hundreds of times.

It's part of our, it's part of our tradition now, and they're still an,

I can skip intro, but I never do.

I say, you need to hear this.

I grew up with this.

You need to experience what this is like.

You need to experience what I've experienced.

It's good for you to feel the, the pain of going through the intro.

Watching the commercials, but interestingly, there's not a skip

intro button for the Christian life.

There is no fast forward to maturity.

There is no, I can skip the beginning of this and get right to the good stuff.

No, everything is about progressive growth and even Jesus himself was not

exempted from this, although he was a son.

Verse eight says, although it's offering a concession, even though this is the

case, he never used the the card and said, ah, look, I'm gonna skip this

level and I'm gonna go right to the.

The championship.

I'm gonna go right to the cross.

It could have been that you realize he could have been born in the manger

in Bethlehem and then the next week had been sacrificed, didn't happen.

And yet, when you look at the sacrificial system in the Old Testament, you'll notice

that often it is a young unblemished lamb.

And Jesus was young, relatively speaking, 33 years old is not a

long time, but he wasn't a year old.

He wasn't a week old.

He was 33 about.

Why live that whole time?

Well, because he was doing what God had called him to do.

He was progressively growing in his understanding, progressively

going, growing in his, his godliness and his humanity.

He didn't hit, he didn't use a skip intro button, did not appeal

to divine or relational privilege.

Paid the price.

Sometimes age status can tempt us to think that we have paid or dues.

We've talked about this already.

Now, I wanna just camp on this really quickly because it makes sense.

Um.

When God calls us to follow him, he, he doesn't say, when you graduate

to this stage of maturity, then you're exempted from all the basics.

You don't have to do the things that you used to do anymore.

In fact, Christianity is, is is often a, a long maturing in the

same direction with the basics.

Praying, reading your bible, going to church, learning from

the sermons, all those things.

Now, age and status do not change things.

You might be the president, CEO of a company.

You might be the highest ranking employee in your, in your division, but that

doesn't change your status with the Lord.

He doesn't see that and say, I'm so impressed by you.

You can do things differently now because you have your own parking

spot in the company parking lot.

We're all his children.

We all sit in many respects as on level footing.

And God calls us to approach him in that way.

How does this work in practice?

I, I, I once told God, don't tell God what, what.

But here's what I told him.

I told him I would never be part of another church plant because I don't

like setting up and tearing down.

Clearly I didn't think that one through 'cause he said, ha.

And I'm part of another church plan and I'm sitting up and tearing down

probably for the rest of my life.

One of the things that's been really sweet though in this is

that I, I've got to see saints.

Godly older men step up in an area where I would say if I'm, if I'm that age,

I might exempt myself and say, well, you know, my back guys and my eyesight

isn't what it used to be, and these muscles aren't what they used to be.

Uh, but yet I've seen older men take the brunt of that work.

Um, even if I never miss, I could just point out too, well,

at least one of that's here.

I don't think the other one is here.

Greg Shaver.

Um, I don't, maybe he would be objected to my calling him

old, but Greg Shaver does that.

He's an, he's an older gentleman.

He's pushing carts and lifting chairs and trying to pick up the stage pieces.

And we say, Greg, don't do that.

You're gonna hurt yourself.

Still does it.

Pete Burner, he does the same thing.

Pete Burner cleans the bathrooms.

I dunno if you know that when you go to the, the, the, the cafeteria

in the morning, if the bathroom smells so fresh and so clean, clean,

it's because Pete Burner cleaned it 99 times out of a hundred,

there are other older saints who refuse to stop paying the price.

And they say, I don't care how old I am, I'm doing it because that's

what God has called me to do.

And if, if the church needs that I'm gonna serve, I'm gonna jump into that.

I'm not old enough.

I'm not too advanced, I'm too mature from that.

I'm not gonna embrace privilege.

I'm gonna take my position as servant.

Who's that sound like?

Uh, it sounds to me a lot like Jesus, who remember Jesus.

Luke chapter 22, he says this, who is the greater one who reclines

Luke 22 · chapter mention

at table or one who serves?

It is not the one who recline.

Oh, rather, is it not the one who reclines that table?

But I am among you as the one who serves.

Luke 2227, Jesus says, I am the greatest among you.

And yet, how do I prove my greatness?

How do I prove my prestige and my status, my privilege?

I use my power, my prestige, my status, my privilege to serve you.

This is the way of Jesus.

You suffer with Jesus by rejecting privileged position.

You serve with Jesus, you suffer with Jesus.

Rather by saying, I don't care how old I am or what I perceive to be

my, my accolades, my entitlements, I will serve regardless.

I gotta ask you, man, are you willing to pay the price of discipleship to

Jesus to suffer with him in this way?

This is incredibly humbling.

No one wants to do this, and yet we will never outgrow the humble service

Jesus models for us and calls us to.

If you ever do outgrow humble service, willingness to take the grunt work.

You might have outgrown Jesus.

Whew.

Scary place to be.

Lemme just encourage you take, take the lowly job, do the grunt work.

Do it in league with Jesus knowing that it draws his pleasure, whether that's

at home, doing the dishes, putting the kids' shoes away, whether it's at

church stack in a chair, whether it's at your office, the trash is full.

You see it's full.

It's not my job to take it out.

I'll just let someone else do that.

I'm gonna pass right on.

Bye.

I see it.

I identify the problem.

I'll resolve the problem.

I'm gonna serve, you know that napkin container's empty at home.

My wife will get it.

No, I'll do it.

I'll take care of it.

I'll, I'll fill the napkin container.

I'm one among you as one who serves.

Suffering with Jesus means rejecting privilege, but it also means valuing

the redemptive purposes of suffering.

Notice that Jesus learned obedience through what he suffered.

Verse eight, he learned obedience through what He suffered.

Again, another place where your theology's gonna be challenged

because isn't Jesus already perfect?

Wasn't he born perfect?

Wasn't he born righteous?

And yet here it says he learned obedience.

There was something he did not know that he had to learn through experience.

And here we find out that Jesus does grow.

Uh, jot down Luke five rather.

Luke 2 52.

Jesus grows in obedience.

He increases in knowledge and in wisdom, he increases in the favor of God.

There is something very real about Jesus' humanity.

That's where we say he was truly human.

He did truly have to grow and learn as a human, which means when he

learns obedience through suffering.

This is not just the Bible saying it was kind of like that he did.

He learned.

He learned even more through his suffering.

What it was like to be obedient to the father.

Favorite status, didn't exempt him.

Being divine.

Literally divine did not exempt Jesus from suffering.

But there's redemptive purposes behind the suffering.

In fact, being Godly increases your suffering.

That's a slightly different direction, but lemme just say it.

Being godly increases your suffering, not lessens it.

With that.

Then if we see Jesus suffering, favorite status does not exempt you

from it, but it does guarantee that your suffering is never for nothing.

It's always redemptive.

There's always a purpose, and I can't even promise you that.

You'll always know what that purpose is

when you're suffering.

Then here's your, here's your posture.

Like Jesus, extract all the good you can from it.

Instead of simply asking, God, why?

Why?

Why is this happening to me?

Why did you allow me to go through this?

Why are you letting this person do this to me?

Ask him, what are you teaching me, Lord?

How can I love you?

Even in the midst of this?

How can I be faithful to you even as you allow me to go through this affliction

less why and more what and how?

And right now I'd love for you to just ask yourself what you're most often

tempted to complain and grumble about.

Think about it.

What are you most often tempted to grumble and complain about?

These are the areas where it doesn't take much to jostle

you and get a snarky reaction.

Maybe for some of you, when you drive it is your least gly time of the day.

People are cutting you off and they're tailgating you, not tailgating.

That's different.

They're tailgating while you're driving.

That's a problem too.

But they're tailing you.

And maybe people are driving recklessly and you just, your blood boils and you

just start calling down curses on them, if not verbally, at least internally.

Uh, maybe it's when you get home and you're finding the house in a mess

and you're thinking, why is this not the way it's supposed to be?

Who, who's on, who's on first?

Why is there no one who's doing the job here?

Maybe at the office you sit next to some knuckleheads and they're always

saying things that are offensive to you, and you just, where are you

most tempted to complain and grumble?

Ask God to help you learn obedience through that suffering.

That's what happened to Jesus.

Lord, help me learn obedience through the suffering, relatively model by comparison.

Okay,

verse nine.

Verse nine.

Being made perfect and being made perfect.

He became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him.

In what sense was Jesus made?

Perfect.

Again, this is highlighting the humanity of Jesus as our high priest.

Being made perfect here in this context means that he fulfilled, he

qualified to be our perfect high priest.

He had to go through the gateway of suffering to qualify as our high priest.

The whole book of Hebrews helps make this case better than

I will in the short moment.

But this means at least this Jesus, although never a sinner,

and though always eternally holy, had to live out perfect obedience.

For the 33 years, God gave him under genuine human temptation and suffering

to qualify as our high priest and savior.

He had to, his perfection as divine in his divinity was not sufficient

in affecting our salvation.

God made him live 33 years.

To qualify to be our high priest.

And again, that doesn't talk about, we're not saying he was a sinner and

he learned and he became more holy.

We're not saying that he was always eternally holy.

What we're talking about is the human experience.

He had to go through human experience to fulfill all righteousness as he

puts it in Matthew chapter three.

Remember, Jesus gets baptized.

He's baptized by John and, and John says, Lord, you should baptize me.

He says, no, John, think about this.

I need to do this to fulfill all righteousness.

This was necessary to affect your salvation.

That's what Jesus is doing.

In fact, think of it like this.

You ever go to a waterpark and there's water being poured in those

big buckets at the top, and it's like a hundred gallons of water.

There's water being poured in.

Eventually when it reaches the very, uh, top, most of its of its filled

capacity, it will tip over and then pour out those a hundred gallons and

it begin the process all over again.

You think about Jesus like a bucket.

He is for his whole 33 years being poured into, he's accumulating

perfect righteousness for us.

He never lacked it.

He always had the righteousness, but he's accumulating the experience of that

righteousness for his whole 33 years.

And at the cross, it was poured out for you and for me.

Jesus was never emptied of righteousness.

He always possessed it.

The experiential nature of his learning and growing and becoming righteous

is what's being referred to here.

But you'll notice the very end of verse nine, being made perfect.

He became the source of eternal salvation.

To all who, what was that word saying?

Obey him.

Obey him.

Point number three.

Submit to Jesus.

Submit to Jesus.

Simple.

Pray like him.

Suffer with him, submit to him.

Two kinds of submission you will always render to Jesus.

Number one, the submission of repentant faith.

The Gospel, first and foremost is a command.

It's not, it's not an invitation.

We talk about it that way in its sense, invitation, invitational.

But Mark one 15, when Jesus is preaching about his his kingdom,

he says, the time is fulfilled.

The kingdom of God is at hand, repents and believe in the gospel.

Those are two imperatives.

The first obedience that anybody renders to Christ is repentant trust in Christ.

That's the, that's the gospel in a nutshell.

We repent and believe in him.

We need to learn to repent and believe.

Someone needs to show us the way.

That's why we, we need a preacher.

They need to tell us how to do this.

So we do.

That

thing is, and some Christians mistake this, you will never

outgrow repentance and faith.

For the rest of your Christian life, you will always be repenting and trusting.

It gets stronger and it gets better and it gets deeper, but it never goes away.

These are the basics of Christian belief.

You will always be repenting and trusting.

Kind of like when you learn to play basketball, when you learn

to dribble, you learn to dribble, and that's the foundation that

applies to all the other things.

You're not gonna do a layup and forget how to dribble unless you're LeBron

James, but you're gonna typically dribble and do a layup at the same time.

Those skills build on one another, and you're not gonna grow out of that.

Your basic skills, if I can call 'em that, repentance and faith will always

be there in your Christian life.

So submitting to Jesus means, first of all, in repentant faith.

Secondly, in faithful obedience, because Jesus is more than our example and not

less His obedience that He He does for us doesn't just make ours possible.

It makes ours necessary.

Jesus obedience makes it both possible and necessary for us to obey.

Submission to Jesus Lordship is the necessary fruit and

evidence of our salvation.

We can say so much more about this, but let me just say this as to my young man.

Again, uh, I would love for you young man to submit your ambition to the Lord.

Whatever it is that you see for your life, submitting it to Jesus means I'm

gonna let him be the God of my life in every aspect who I get married to.

When I get married, what kind of job I have, what kind of, uh, degree I get

and obtain what kind of jobs I pursue.

I everything I want Jesus to be the Lord of your life, which means

you need to submit your ambition.

Good thing, good thing to be ambitious, bad thing to do it and say, the Lord can

afford to wait for me until I'm ready.

No, keep the Lord at the center submitting to him.

He's more than our example.

He's not less.

We submit like Jesus did.

Brothers, husbands, fathers, submit your home.

Submit your home to the Lord.

Lead your family even when you're tired.

Initiate conversations with your teenagers.

When you're tired, lead them in the worship and praise of God.

Submit them to Jesus.

Submit Jesus to that.

Help them encounter Jesus by your life and leadership.

Your wife should not be carrying the spiritual weight of your household.

And that's a temptation for all of us.

Don't let it happen.

God has called you to lead.

He wants you to do that, even though it will be hard, you will have to grow.

God will use that to my seasoned brothers and the the room.

Submit your resume, your prior service, your prior achievements, your prior

accolades, your prior sacrifices, maybe even your retirement account.

Submit that to the Lord.

Say, Lord, everything I am.

All that I've done my, my career, my life history, my, my family, it's yours.

Do with it as you Please.

Can I encourage you?

Older men in the room who have gray hair, there are men around you who need fathers.

Not all of us grew up with a dad in the house who, who did

what I'm even calling you to do.

We just don't know what that's like.

A lot of us had fathers who were present, but very absent.

And maybe God is growing you to an age and stage where you can do

something for one of those men.

Thirties, forties, it doesn't matter.

We always want that fatherly approval.

We always yearn for that fatherly connection.

And if we don't have that with an earthly father, maybe you can be that

spiritual father to one of these guys.

They need you.

And so many times we have our, our older saints, they, they go to Florida

or Arizona and they just, I'm gonna, I, I need to go where it's warmer

and it's easier for us to live.

And I understand some of those decisions.

I'm not trying to call you out on that.

I'm just saying maybe consider how you might serve the men in

the room and be a father to them.

Submit your resume, submit your retirement, submit

these things to the Lord.

Question for all of us then is not, have I obeyed the Lord?

Trust that you're here.

You have obeyed.

But am I continuing to obey?

Am I continuing to pay the price or have I let, have, have I let the culture

infect me with only a, a spirituality that is easy, accessible, and convenient.

Christianity will never be that.

Jesus doesn't set the model for us.

He shows us what it looks like to follow and obey, even to the point

of death, even death on a cross.

You see, being a Christian is not like driving a Tesla with full self-driving.

It's not gonna wait.

It's not the way your Christian's gonna work.

It's an amazing tool, I'll take it.

Um, but you should always contrary to the song, keep your hands on the

wheel and not let Jesus take the wheel.

He's not going to, he offers unilateral salvation.

But sanctification, our growth in Christ is together with him.

We keep our hands on the wheel.

We drive with Jesus.

He commands us.

We follow.

We never take our hands off the wheel.

Your life will never be a Tesla FSD situation.

Lemme just encourage you.

One thing here, guys, I, I give you a lot.

Lemme just give you one thing that I want you to do from this sermon.

I want you to plead with God to give you a heart that is willing to pay

the price, not to check out early.

Not to coast, not to become passive or submissive to your wife's leadership.

I just want you to plead with God, please don't let me quit before it's my time.

Please don't let me throw in the towel.

Please don't let me coast.

Don't let me, uh, embrace a mentality of privilege.

I just want you to pray that God would help you with this, and

then let God lead you for the next thing I'm asking you to pray.

You let God lead you.

Four.

Okay, what does that mean for me?

Then practically, where do I need to put my hand in the plow?

Maybe I've stepped back from the plow and it's time to get

back into it and push again.

You let the Lord lead.

Just pray.

Ask God help you to have a heart that's willing to pay the price along with Jesus.

Okay?

Let us not grow where we're doing good for in due season.

We will reap if we don't give up.

Let's pray.

God, thank you for the, the morning opportunity to open your word.

Help us now to put this word into practice with the men that

we're about to spend time with.

Give us the ability to have conversations that are real and, and

fruitful and honest, and even to some degree, Lord, emotionally available.

Um.

Not that, that's everything.

We're not trying to become emotionally manipulative.

It's not our goal, Lord, we wanna look like Christ, though.

We want Christ's character to reflect ours.

So help us Lord, to be conformed to his image as we go to our small groups.

Give us great conversations, fruitful dialogue.

Let there be great give and take.

Let there be just a, a really helpful conversation that pulls more from the

sermon and, and discards the rest.

That's not helpful.

When we submit this time to you now, Lord, please give us the grace for this.

In Jesus name, amen.

Amen.

Alright, brothers, well thank you again for being, here's what you're.